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

Since the Labour party were elected in early July to form the UK Government, I have been eagerly awaiting announcements of plans to try and fix the crisis facing British universities. Having spent the last five years researching a PhD thesis at the University of Essex which examined the relationship between political narratives of social...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

Words by Christopher Cunningham. Note from the author: Ideas discussed in this blog post represent a digest from my forthcoming book, which has the working title: The Neoliberal Meritocracy of Higher Education in England: Questioning a University’s Purpose through a Study of Widening Participation.    Abstract In analysing the relationship between social mobility and widening...Read More

The Office for Students (OfS) is currently caught up in the crossfire of a government-inspired ‘culture-war’ on universities. This has included passage of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act in May 2023 to address an alleged ‘no platforming’ of right-wing and gender-critical speakers.  The OfS has now published its proposals for an independent complaints...Read More

Professor Karl Leydecker Senior Vice Principal  Aberdeen University 26 November 2023   Dear Karl It has been a few years since we saw each other last when I left the University of Kent in the summer of 2007 to become professor of German in Swansea shortly after you arrived to head up the School 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

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