Tag Archives: England

Terence Kealey: Why Oxford University had to resist Sir Victor Blank

The Independent: Terence Kealey: Why Oxford University had to resist Sir Victor Blank

In the year 2000, Gordon Brown set out to destroy the 800-year tradition of academic self-government at Oxford and Cambridge. The man he chose to execute his policy was Sir Victor Blank. Sir Victor is the chairman who severely damaged the share price of Lloyds Bank, and on that evidence he is less than competent – as of course is Gordon Brown. So how did those two men position themselves nearly to destroy the governance of two of the greatest universities on the globe?

Art colleges lose research cash as ministers opt to protect science

The Independent: Art colleges lose research cash as ministers opt to protect science

Some of London’s top art colleges are seething about cuts that mean that the University of the Arts London is losing £3m and the Royal College of Art £500,000 of research money next year. The cuts have come as a shock because the colleges actually did better in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), but this improvement was not reflected in cash.