British Critique of Ivies

By David Matthews for Times Higher Education. Wealthy donors to Ivy League universities can "buy a place" for their offspring, and admissions policies at elite U.S. universities are far less meritocratic than anything that would be accepted in Britain, the universities and science minister has argued.
David Willetts made the comments in a debate with Lord Rees of Ludlow, the astronomer royal, about the future of British higher education. He said that large donations to prestigious private universities in the United States meant that favors were returned in terms of the admission of donors' children.
"You can buy a place for your child, although obviously your child has to meet a pretty high minimum standard," Willetts said. "To escape the constraints of state funding, [the Ivy League universities] have to make other sacrifices so as to achieve alternative sources of income and ... they'll trade off some choice [over admissions] in return for securing a stream of income," he added. Read more...