One common response in the higher education sector to the EU referendum result has been to ask whether universities have lost their connection with wider society. Vice chancellors, academics and students were all significantly more likely to vote in favour of the UK remaining within the EU than the rest of the population. Is this evidence that universities have lost touch with their local communities? Or is that an overly simplistic way of assessing the public interest delivered by universities? As the UK faces a new future, pointing in a different direction, what role should universities fulfil?
Speakers
Professor Joy Carter, Vice-Chancellor, University of Winchester
Bill Rammell, Vice-Chancellor, University of Bedfordshire (author of HEPI Occasional Paper 15, Protecting the Public Interest in Higher Education)
Professor William Whyte, Fellow, St John’s College, Oxford (author of Redbrick: a social and architectural history of Britain’s civic universities)
Note: This seminar was invite-only, but the three presentations were delivered on the record and a sound file is available on request. For further information please contact Emma Ma ([email protected])