England’s Lifelong Loan Entitlement “has to be about letting people study what they want” rather than government-dictated “utilitarian” courses, while it could help overturn the “mad idea” that university must happen between ages 18 and 21, according to the outgoing head of Birkbeck, University of London.
David Latchman retired as Birkbeck vice-chancellor at the end of 2023, after 21 years leading “London’s evening university”, as the flags around its Bloomsbury campus proclaim it.
The institution, which offers students the chance to benefit from “research-led teaching” while they work, has this year marked its bicentenary: “200 years of changing lives” as another marketing strapline puts it.
Post-Covid, Birkbeck is “spending a lot of money on hyflex so people who can’t come can actually participate in the classes live”, said Professor Latchman.
