UK: University role is not social justice: Cambridge

Universities should not be expected to promote social justice, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge has said, igniting a debate over the role of universities, reports The Telegraph. Professor Alison Richard said the growing stature of universities in Britain had "encouraged meddling" from the government, which was putting academic standards at risk.

The anthropologist, who spent 30 years at Yale university in America, also claimed that universities were under-funded and faced losing their "competitive advantage" to overseas rivals. "As institutions charged with education, research and training, our purpose is not to be construed as that of handmaidens of industry, implementors of the skills agenda, or indeed engines for promoting social justice," she told a Universities UK conference in Cambridge.

Richard's intervention in the controversial debate over admissions came a week after the number of private school pupils admitted to Cambridge slumped to a 27-year low of 41%. The university admitted that the change was a direct result of policies designed to push bright students from state schools into applying.

Full report on The Telegraph site
Also see Alison Richard on under-funding on The Times site

The full text of Alison Richard's speech on the Cambridge site