Last summer, 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. We are pleased to publish the initial results of one of our projects, “When and why do we read?...Read More
On Tuesday 11 July 2023, the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) hosted a symposium on the subject of academic governance at SOAS, University of London in collaboration with Influencing Corridors of Power (ICOP). The aim of the day was as follows: to examine and critique the state of the governance of UK...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
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
The Council for the Defence of British Universities is delighted to offer awards of up to £1000 for conferences, workshops, public lectures, exhibitions, public events, or the conception and diffusion of content related to the aims of the CDBU on electronic media including television, radio, podcasts etc. Applications will be considered by the Executive Committee...Read More
The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) is pleased to announce that it is hosting a symposium on the subject of academic governance, in collaboration with Influencing Corridors of Power (ICOP) at SOAS on July 11. The symposium will be an all-day event of 4 sessions, with a number of highly distinguished and...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
