The outpouring of grief accompanying the death of Professor Jason Arday testifies to the magnitude of his contribution both as a scholar and as a human being. Yet it is also grief propelled by a profound collective guilt of inaction.  Why did so many of us fail to intervene? Why didn’t we co-ordinate a counterattack,...Read More

20 July 2026 Dear Prime Minister On behalf of the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU), I request a meeting with you to discuss Higher Education. The sector needs a review of management, purpose and funding.  British universities were envied until recently in other countries for our teaching, research, and openness to the...Read More

  The Annual General Meeting for 2026 of the Council for the Defence of British Universities will take place online via Zoom on Wednesday 22 July at 3pm.  The meeting is open to members and non-members but only members have voting rights. Non-members are encouraged to fill out the membership application form on the website....Read More

The Council for the Defence of British Universities invites applications to our second call for project funding. Projects can encompass any aspect of higher education in the UK, including policy and institutional change (e.g. mergers), curricula developments, finance, staff and student welfare and wellbeing or the effects of restructuring programmes currently ravaging our sector. Comparisons...Read More

Words by Professor Leo McCann and Professor Simon Sweeney, University of York The sudden availability and widespread usage of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) have had a significant impact on university life, provoking much discussion and reflection. Many academics are turning to scholarly work on AI in their attempts to make...Read More

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

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.   How is knowledge best divided for the purpose of systematically acquiring more of it bit by bit? Should such a discrete ‘body of knowledge’ be recognised as a ‘subject’ or...Read More

Words by Professor Ronald Barnett Across the world, universities have been captured by two forces – the economy and the state – and so much so that we now naturally think of higher education in these terms, as parts of the economy and as subject to political policies and interests.  This is an astonishing state...Read More