tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post7069869362085775403..comments2024-03-28T11:04:16.315+00:00Comments on Boffy's Blog: Why I Don't Oppose Grayling's New Private University - Part 1Boffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-55357747210179038102011-06-22T17:02:24.239+01:002011-06-22T17:02:24.239+01:00Mike,
Thanks for your comments. Yes, I should ha...Mike,<br /><br />Thanks for your comments. Yes, I should have pointed out that most English Universities including Oxbridge are only quasi-state institutions. I don't think the fact that Grayling's University is a "con-job" should be a reason for marxists to oppose it, though it may be a reason for us to point out that it is a "con-job" in the way we'd point out that other things, I don't know, say debt-management companies, were con-jobs. That doesn't mean that were a number of Big companies such as Virgin, TESCO, or whoever to decide to enter the market, and establish a string of Universities throughout the country they could not offer high quality education, at lower tuition fees due to higher levels of efficiency.<br /><br />I take up these issues in Part 2.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-54156478977707757162011-06-22T12:34:32.880+01:002011-06-22T12:34:32.880+01:00You are right on the issue of principle - and in a...You are right on the issue of principle - and in any case private universities already exist: Oxford and Cambridge are not state-owned but merely state-subsidised and Buckingham is fully independent (which means, in practice, selling a fairly narrow range of courses to overseas students).<br /><br />However, Grayling's operation appears to be a con-job: what is on offer is a crammer for the existing London University External BA exams, to be sold to credulous parents on the basis that a few 'stars' will give a few lectures. <br /><br />The Oxbridge 'cachet' is not at the end of the day about the tutorial system (though employers like it because it makes students work harder) or about the academic stars. It is about a combination of (a) privileged relations to the UK state elite, and the accompanying undergraduate 'networking', i.e. social integration of new money with old money, dating back before the 1800s but continuing to this day; and (b) going along with that, college endowments (small by Ivy League standards but massive by UK standards) which allow (i) massively more favourable staff-student ratios than elsewhere, and (ii) many more library books and library seats per student.Mike Macnairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12879151956757678689noreply@blogger.com