It’s the higher education Christmas movie and TV guide

There’s nothing on the telly this Christmas.

There never is. But if, like me, you have trouble switching off from work but also enjoy being slumped in front of the box with a tin of Quality Street, I have good news.

I’ve picked out twenty films and TV shows released this year that either have something to say about higher education, are set on campus and/or depict contemporary student life.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll shell out for a VPN, and you’ll almost certainly switch off, which is what the break is for – eventually.

You’re welcome – and do let me know if I’ve missed anything in the comments below. And apologies in advance if you’re at work over the next couple of weeks.

Oppenheimer If you chose Barbie on that fateful weekend this year, this is worth a shot – it delves into the life and times of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist known for his role in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Much of the material about his contributions to the development of the atomic bomb and the moral quandaries he faced, but HE fans get plenty of interactions with students and fellow academics – with a whole section depicting him as a doctoral student at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where he struggles with anxiety and homesickness.

Saltburn As The Face (yes, it’s still going) noted earlier this month, the spectacle of American college life has long been the subject of big screen adaptations – “but where are all the movies about four quid Lidl wine and Wednesday night pints at the pub?”. You wouldn’t describe Saltburn as offering a typical depiction – it’s about a student at Oxford University who finds himself drawn into the world of a charming and aristocratic classmate, who invites him to his eccentric family’s sprawling estate for a summer “never to be forgotten”. Nevertheless there’s plenty of class dynamics action to enjoy here – with one of the key characters there via a scholarship.

Gen V If those both sound a bit too serious for you, do check this spin off of “The Boys” set at America’s only college for superheroes. It’s a private provider with a vocational focus – the sinister sounding Vought International manages Godolkin University as a training ground for the next generation of super-powered individuals, with plenty of fun themes on the pressures of living up to expectations, the complexities of social hierarchies and the ethical dilemmas faced by students in a competitive environment. Get yourself as far as Episode 8 and you’ll find quite a dark bit of knowing plot on how university leaders seek to spin a student suicide.

Secrets of a university Now this is more like it. It’s not legally available to watch in the UK yet, but if you have… ways… this is glorious made-for-TV nonsense. Eliza De La Cruz knows what she wants – a high-powered job in academia, to finally go public with her married Senator boyfriend James Holbrooke, and to upend the nepotism and inequity in higher education. Yes, we have a focus here on admissions at the illustrious Wilder University. I can confirm that it is indeed wilder, unless anyone working in UK admissions has ever had a card with “You can do Anything! As Long As Your Daddy Screws the Admissions Whore” written in it. It’s also been released under the title “One Deadly Decision” if you’re searching.

Scream VI If a revival of the teen horror genre is more your bag, you’ll be pleased to learn that number 6 in the franchise takes place on a college campus in the heart of New York City – as unknown callers and isolated scares are replaced with scenes of chases in crowded subway cars and the eerie indifference of bystanders, which it says here “reflect the modern horrors of apathy and online social media toxicity”. I’m not sure about that, but highlights do include a character’s alibi being at an economics lecture, and a frat party that goes awry.

The Other Zoey What’s that you say? You want a silly rom-com set at a university that sounds like it would do well in the TEF? Zoey Miller is a super smart computer nerd who is uninterested in romantic love – but has her life turned upside down when Zack, Queens University of Charlotte’s soccer star, gets amnesia and mistakes Zoey for his girlfriend. You can guess the rest, but there’s some lovely shots of the campus here, and some decent gags – including a pointed pisstake of “Notting Hill”.

The paper copy Sometimes what I think we all want to do is relax in front of a film that a student has made – they might be the next Spielberg, after all. This one – free on Youtube – is half an hour long, and is about a student’s quest to hand in an essay on the last day of the semester – only to be interrupted by unpaid debts, lost love, and a mysterious bobblehead. There’s a lot of running in it.

The Rain in España Another one that demands a bit of search around the less legal bits of the web (not those bits). What we have here is a Philippine teen romance drama TV series that revolves around Kalix, a student from a family of doctors, who chooses a different path by taking up law at a university – and to be fair as well as the angst there’s a fascinating backdrop of university life. Set at the fictional “University of Santo Tomas”, there’s plots that cover a whole week’s worth of Wonkhe articles – including academic integrity, the integration challenges faced by international students, research ethics and the impact of technology on learning and teaching methods.

Israelism This isn’t really about universities or students, but it’s notable because of the controversy surrounding its screening on campus. Two Jewish Americans question their loyalty to Israel after travelling to the country and the West Bank – with arguments suggesting that it is antisemitic causing it to feature in numerous academic freedom debates consuming US college campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war. Last month students at the University of Pennsylvania were suspended after screening the film despite university managers reportedly telling them to postpone the event.

La voie royale I have terrible memories of feigning interest in French arthouse movies to impress girls in my teens, so I’ve not got round to this one yet – but it sounds fun. The story here revolves around Sophie, a brilliant student who leaves her family farm to attend a scientific preparatory class for what is supposed to be the École Polytechnique in France, known for its rigorous academic standards and competitive entrance examination. Apparently it’s a commentary on social climbing and the elite higher education hierarchy in France that focuses on Maths and Physics.

Cat Person Talking of arthouse films, this one revolves around a 20-year-old college student called Margot who gets involved with an older man named Robert after meeting him at her local arthouse cinema (who is 33). There’s not a lot of campus action here, but plenty on navigating consent and control in relationships – it’s a clunky adaptation of a short story that went viral when #MeToo all started up.

Puan Now here’s a foreign film I have seen – although the auto-generated translation did leave me baffled at various stages. Marcelo has devoted his life to teaching philosophy at the Public University of Buenos Aires – and when his mentor Professor Caselli dies unexpectedly, Marcelo expects to become the new head of Department. But then a man called Rafael – who’s younger, funnier and better looking – returns from a jaunt around European universities to claim the position for himself. There’s some deliciously moody shots of the University of Buenos Aires here, but to be honest I’ve no idea if it was actually shot there.

Identity Crisis Now this is cracking. It’s an explicitly Christian movie set on a Christian campus – but if hearing that puts you off, do give this a shot if you’re hungover on one of the days between Christmas and New Year. Madison is a shy science student who struggles with confidence issues – but works out how to clone herself in order to create the perfect identity. Guess what? She discovers God already created the perfect version of herself, and she had all the confidence she just needed to try. I cried, unironically.

Bama Rush I’ve long been fascinated by how students’ social lives work in different countries, having grown up watching various films about the US Greek system of fraternities and sororities. I expected this to be the latest in a long line of takedowns of that culture – but this turned out to be a brilliant documentary on the “rush” process of trying to get accepted into a sorority at the University of Alabama. The effort that goes into planning, engaging professional sorority consultants, and the secret society that dominates the student SU (and reserves football seats and scholarships for members of the Greek system) is a real eye-opener.

Miseducation I’ve not watched this yet – but given one of its episodes features a plot revolving around a rigged Student Representative Council election I’ll be firing up the VPN over the break. It’s a mini-series that revolves around a wannabe influencer who, after a public humiliation, enrols in a small-town university in South Africa with the aim of regaining her social status. Apparently there’s also stuff on unequal treatment between wealthy and less privileged students, the controversy surrounding colonial landmarks in South Africa, the “Fees Must Fall” protests, staff-student relationships and students using smart drugs to hit academic deadlines.

Senior Year: Love Never Fails This one’s about the relationship between two unmarried final year students who have a 5-year-old daughter together. Marcella is planning to go on to medical school, while C.J. is busy studying and playing college basketball – and there’s all sorts of shenanigans revolving around academic responsibilities, sporting commitments and personal lives. There’s also a sub-plot on drink spiking, but to be honest I got bored halfway through so I can’t tell you what the “devastating discovery” is that various synopsis tease.

Home Free You’ll note that so far this list hasn’t featured any “stoner comedies”, but the good news is that this is one that revolves around two second year students who invite a homeless former University of Texas at Austin professor to live with them. It’s apparently based on the real-life experiences of writer and producer, and explores themes of friendship, personal growth, and social impact. Dude.

Publish or Perish I haven’t seen this one either, but who can resist a film that it says here is a “tight, tense little bundle of popcorny fun”? It’s a dark comedy-thriller centred around a tenure-obsessed English professor, where the plot takes a dramatic turn when the professor accidentally kills a student – and in a desperate attempt to protect his career, makes a decision that sends his life spiralling out of control.

Mag Ik Jou Iets Vragen (Can I ask you something) Now this looks excellent – but is probably one for the new year, to be honest. A documentary on the future of HE, 14 universities of applied sciences (HBOs) in the Netherlands share their perspective on personal development and skills – leading to a conversation about the importance of “facing reality” and learning to make “mature choices”, versus the “infantile” choices we are tempted to make in our society. YouTube’s new live autotranslation feature did marr it a bit when I tried to get into it last week, so here’s hoping for a proper translation in 2024.