Research assessment exercises, teaching quality assessment, line management, staff appraisal, student course evaluation, modularization, student fees — these are all names of innovations (and problems) — in modern British universities. How far do they reflect a more conscientious approach to the effective promotion of higher education, and how far do they constitute a significant departure from traditional academic concerns and values? Using some themes of Cardinal Newman’s classic The Idea of a University as a springboard, this extended essay aims to address these questions.

Gordon Graham is Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

This book has now been superseded by The Institution of Intellectual Values: Realism and Idealism in Higher Education, but Universities: The Recovery of an Idea is still available on subscription via Societas.

Contents (pdf format)
Introduction (pdf format)

From the Reviews:

  • 'Those who care about universities should thank Gordon Graham for doing what has needed doing so urgently'. Philosophy
  • 'A short reflective treatise on British university education that deserves to be widely read . . . its appeal is universal and deserves the attention of a wide audience.'  Political Studies Review
  • 'Though densely and cogently argued, this book is extremely readable and indeed deserves to be widely read'. Philosophical Quarterly
  • 'Raises issues that should be widely debated in the media and which should inform educational manifestos for the next election.' Network
  • 'Great appeal of an old-fashioned kind.' Use of English
  • 'People within higher education will empathise with the disenchantment of the author at the current state of universities in Britain.' British Educational Research Journal
  • 'Universities presents a thoughtful, sustained, and coherent argument . . . . It remains to others whether they will read this fine little book and profit from it.'  Metapsychology
  • 'It is extraordinary how much Graham has managed to say and to say so well in so short a book.'  Alasdair MacIntyre
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    Available at reduced price via Societas