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The article reports that publishing giant Elsevier has denied to force academics in Great Britain to sign up to its other services in order to use the newly acquired Social Science Research Network (SSRN) repository. Topics include Elsevier's purchase of SSRN marks attempt to maintain control over publishing, and view of open access advocates, who have been highly critical of Elsevier that the publisher could crack down on the free dissemination of papers.

The article discusses the suggestions made by the Great Britain-based professional institution Higher Education Academy (HEA) for the government's teaching excellence framework, known as Green Paper, that focuses on improving the quality of teaching in colleges and universities. The emphasis on recognizing and rewarding teachers is suggested to enhance the motivational level. Further, the need and benefits of becoming an HEA member is mentioned.

The author emphasizes the need to provide academics more structured support as they deal with improving public engagement in Great Britain. He says academics known for their public engagement were virtually sacrificing their academic career based on a research paper. He suggests incorporating some measure of public engagement in the metrics used for the teaching excellence framework. He cites that this approach would serve as a reward for efforts to promote higher education.

This section offers news briefs on higher education in Great Britain as of September 2015 including Scottish universities concerned about losing their status as charities, the tendency for academics to rise up the citations list through snappy titles for their papers and Great Britain's ranking as the world's top destination for fashion students.