In the last month, another respected international survey placed Oxford and Cambridge joint second to Harvard in the league table of world-class universities. This confirms what others have suggested in recent years. Moreover, other British universities — most notably London’s Imperial College and University College — came out high on the list. There are, alas, too few areas of our national life — the armed forces, the City of London, our diplomatic service — where we do as well in global comparisons. And it matters.
There is quite a lot of clichéd nonsense talked about the knowledge economy. But there’s some truth in it as well. There really is a relationship between the quality of education and research and future economic wellbeing. Also, though it is not as often celebrated, there is a close connection between the sort of society we are and the sort of society we will become on the one hand, and the quality and health of our universities on the other. Less than a century ago many of the great research-based universities in America were based on the German model. Today — bad news for Europe with Asia breathing down our neck — there is not a single German university in the world’s top 50.
Running Oxford in today’s highly competitive circumstances is no pushover, as our present vice-chancellor, John Hood, and his predecessors like Colin Lucas and Peter North, would readily concede. How do you keep a British university at the top of the tree when your American competitors have so much more money to spend?
There are additional challenges at Oxbridge. Our two great universities are collegiate. There are immense advantages in this. It helps to sustain a unique learning experience and a real sense of corporate academic endeavour.
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