The “supersizing” of the UK’s research-intensive universities means they risk becoming “the next step up in [the] school system” rather than “fundamentally different” institutions devoted to disruptive thinking, a former vice-chancellor warns.
In a provocative book being published next week, Sir Nigel Thrift says that the rapid growth of research universities means “increasingly they run to the beat of the student drum” by focusing on teaching rather than their most vital mission of research.
“Research is the most important thing about research universities,” writes Sir Nigel, who led the University of Warwick for a decade until 2016, in The Pursuit of Possibility: Redesigning Research Universities. But, he warns, the need to secure income from increasing student numbers represents “golden handcuffs” as research universities must gear their operations around students, adding: “Research and teaching are getting out of balance.”
