Do university bigwigs really want the best for students?

We can all see that our universities are not in a good shape. They are churning out too many graduates – who probably shouldn’t have gone to university in the first place – into a difficult job market. But do those in charge of them want to do anything about it? The row over a proposed government shake-up – which could limit places to those with decent GCSE grades – suggests not.

Former fair access tsar Chris Millward led the backlash against the mooted plans. Appointed with great fanfare by Justine Greening in 2017 as the antidote to academic complacency, last weekend – freed from official obligations after he stepped down – he fired a broadside at the government. A reduction in university student numbers was not acceptable, he said: it would be a kick in the teeth to anyone who saw university as a means of furthering their life chances. Academics were equally unhappy.