What is a University?

The beautiful campus of my alma mater (PhD Economics, 1986), The University of Birmingham

(1982-1986 PhD Candidate and Tutor in Economics. Plenty of fond memories, when education at universities in Britain was guided by values other than money and greed, when students were students and not customers, and where tutors and lecturers were academics and teachers and not service providers, valued for the calibre of their personality, moral character, strong work ethics, collegiality and commitment to do good, rather than how much money they have raised, regardless of its source! And, where the vice-chancellors were people of vision and dreams to build a better world, rather than fat cats, huge salaries and questionable expense accounts. Oh how things have changed!) Photo:bing.com

“The one continuing purpose of education, since ancient times, has been to bring people to as full a realization as possible of what it is to be a human being.”-Arthur W. Foshay

‘The Bologna statement, which defines the very purpose of universities, doesn’t seem to apply to the UK any more.’-Stefan Collini, professor of English literature and intellectual history at the University of Cambridge.

The Values-led British Universities as I knew them: And now we can only lament the passing of the idea of a university

‘In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity’