Our aim in this paper is to discuss praxis and its possibilities for helping academics understand and challengethose aspects of contemporary higher education making academic work quite meaningless. Praxis, for thepurposes of this paper, is broadly interpreted as a concept that captures the moral-political dimensions of humanactivity. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first we address the question 'What is praxis?' from atheoretical perspective (to explore praxis as a concept) as well as from an empirical perspective (using empiricalexamples to explore praxis as a phenomenon; as a kind of action). In doing this we hope to depict what praxiscan look like in higher education in its individual and collective forms. In the second part, we extend this discussion to highlight some of the key tensions facing academia today, and raise questions about the possiblerole of praxis (in its more critical forms) in reclaiming the meaningful in higher education and in researching higher education complexities. The paper will draw on empirical material from higher education studies undertaken by the authors for illustrative purposes.