The University, Democracy And The Public Interest

Following the election of 2010, the nature of the university was dramatically changed following the introduction of tuition fees and the removal of direct public funding from arts, humanities and social science subjects.

This reduced public spending on higher education by 82%, shifting the costs on to students with increased revenues going into higher education.

The lecture will suggest that the university has shifted from being at the service of democracy to being at the service of markets and their associated inequalities, such that it is now integral to a democratic deficit at the heart of wider public policy.