Universities under Attack
What exactly is under attack and who are the attackers? The ‘radical reform’ of our university system is of long duration and has its origins in the Thatcher years. We should not forget that in January 1985 Oxford’s Congregation voted 738-319 to deny Mrs. Thatcher an honorary degree on the grounds that her government had ‘done deep and systematic damage to the whole public education system in Britain’. In succeeding decades ‘reform’ has been driven forward by governments of all political persuasions, but it is less well understood that many of these reforms have been undertaken in alliance with, and in the interests of, British business.
