Are we jeopardising the freedom of higher education?

By Peter Scott. Good intentions are turning universities into more corporate organisations, and this isn't necessarily a good thing, says Peter Scott. The Leveson report was finally published last week, following months of concerns about press freedom – part spontaneous and part orchestrated by corporate media interests. The core argument is clear; the road to hell (shackling the press) is paved with good intentions (curbing abuses such as phone hacking).
Is there a danger the same might happen – or is already happening – to academic freedom? Of course, "hell" is not a direct attack on the principle of academic freedom. No one behaves – openly – as the late Keith Joseph did when he publicly questioned whether social science could ever be regarded as science, and forced the Social Science Research Council to change its name.
Today the threats are more indirect. The sheer weight of mainstream scholarship, whether expressed through Research Excellence Framework panels or funding priorities, may give less orthodox ideas less and less room to breathe. More systematic approaches to learning and teaching have also meant losing some of the eccentricities and quirks of university teaching in the past. Read more...