We would like to wish all our members and subscribers a very Happy New Year!   One highlight of last year was the launch of our Code of Ethical University Governance, written by Professor Steven Jones, a member of our Executive Committee. Professor Jones launched the Code at a successful event at the House of...Read More

Summary  The CDBU Code of Ethical University Governance is underpinned by the principle that governing bodies have a substantive part to play in affirming higher education as a prized public asset. The Code encourages governors to see themselves as ambassadors for their sector, promoting the university to everyone in society and providing reassurance that income...Read More

This post argues that Cambridge colleges need to remember their origins and act with greater shared purpose in ongoing disputes over the format of admissions interviews, or they risk undermining the institution’s goals for fair access. It reflects on more general themes around university structure and governance with respect to centralisation and homogenisation, and the...Read More

Although specific to Oxford, this blog highlights the sort of changes that are being made in university governance across the UK that reduce the role of academics. Readers aware of other examples are warmly invited to contact us and contribute to the CDBU blog. According to Statute III of the University of Oxford, Convocation consists...Read More

The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) was established at Oxford in 2012 by Sir Keith Thomas. He worked tirelessly to recruit famous names from culture and science, law and the media, as well as academe, and set up an organisational infrastructure in double quick time. Government was instituting radical plans for HE...Read More

We are pleased to publish the results of one of our funded research projects. “University Governance: Views from the Inside”, by Professor Steven Jones (PI) and Dr Diane Harris, explores the inner workings of university governance through a series of interviews with current and former members of university governing bodies in England from 41 different...Read More

PRESS RELEASE: 16.01.24 In April 2022, The Council for the Defence of British Universities invited applications to undertake research into any aspect of higher education in the UK, including governance, policy, curricula developments, and staff and student welfare and wellbeing. Funding was awarded to three projects. We are pleased to announce that we will publish...Read More

Words by Susan Bruce with Kelli Rudolph.  Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, generally so illuminating on the multiple topics they discuss in their podcast The Rest is Politics, were less informative than they usually are in their 13 December discussion of the US House Education and Workforce committee hearing of 5/12/2023 wherein the Presidents of...Read More

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

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...Read More