Interview conducted by Sean McMahon Academic staff do the work that defines a university: teaching, scholarship and research. But too often in British universities the voices of academics are marginalised by undemocratic forms of governance. Top-down, unaccountable, corporate-style management has increasingly replaced collegial decision-making, stifling the autonomy of academics and impeding rather than facilitating academic...Read More
PRESS RELEASE: 19.07.23 “Government proposals to cap the student numbers on what they define as ‘low value degrees’ show once again the limits of market-driven thinking when applied to education. The value of a university degree can manifest itself in many ways after graduation and over a longer term than metrics deployed by the Office...Read More
Words by G.R Evans, Emeritus Professor of Medieval Theology, University of Cambridge and author of discussions of university governance and Histories of Oxford and Cambridge. Unvisited information? Staff and students may not ask themselves how their university or other provider of their higher education is run until they encounter a difficulty. In many years of...Read More
Questions concerning what should be believed, what should be done, and why, are unavoidable dimensions of a recognisably human life; and the arts and humanities in particular illuminate the conduct and predicaments of such a life […] to study the humanities, then, is to gather resources for learning how to live well, and – more...Read More
The Council for the Defence of British Universities is pleased to announce the launch of a new blog series on the topic of university governance. We are currently seeking contributors who can offer insights from all aspects of the university. If you would like to contribute to this series, please get in touch at cdbupress@gmail.com...Read More
In September this year, The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) and Professor Paul Baines (University of Leicester) co-organised a cross-party policy workshop to discuss and debate the role of universities in building the society and economy of the future. After two years of global political, social and financial instability due to the consequences...Read More
Words by Lydia Dye-Stonebridge, joint runner up in the CDBU Essay Prize Competition 2022. I once worked for a large corporate, and they saw it fit to test my personality. The assessment plotted me against the Randian axes of dominance and compliance, influence and steadiness. My line of best fit demonstrated that while in work,...Read More
PRESS RELEASE: 31.08.2022 The Council for the Defence of British Universities is pleased to announce the winner of the CDBU Essay Prize: ‘Contracting Cheating: the Place of the Essay in the Age of the Essay Mill’, submitted by Dr Rowan Cerys Tomlinson, Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the University of Bristol. It has been...Read More
PRESS RELEASE: 31.08.2022 The Council for the Defence of British Universities is pleased to announce the winners of our funded research project competition. Due to the amount and quality of the applications, CDBU has decided to fund three projects, listed below: When and Why Do We Read? The Time and Value of Reading in the...Read More
NEW ON THE CDBU BLOG IN PURSUIT OF PREVENT – Words by John Holmwood, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Nottingham John Holmwood considers how the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill intersects with the government’s counter-extremism policy, in the light of recent leaks about the recommendations to be expected from the Shawcross...Read More
