Grayling’s New College: the vanguard of academic freedom, or an assault on education?

Does the New College represent a blow for academic freedom, or a worrying movement towards HE being the sole preserve of the rich?

Professor A C Grayling's announcement of plans for a new private London-based institution, the New College of the Humanities, which plans to teach students the best of literature, culture and history for a fee of £18,000 a year has been mired in controversy.

Is the NCH, as some protesters have suggested, driven by greedy Judas-like academics, who have abandoned the struggle to preserve the humanities in publicly funded institutions? Is Grayling’s initiative at the vanguard of the Coalition government’s supposed 'privatisation agenda' for Higher Education?

Or, given the level of strings attached to state funding at universities and suffocating bureaucracy, are institutions such as the NCH badly needed in order to establish beacons of academic excellence, where scholars are free to pursue their intellectual passions?

Does the NCH represent a blow for academic freedom, or a worrying movement towards HE being the sole preserve of the rich?

Speaker: Professor Dennis Hayes, professor of education at the University of Derby; director, Academics For Academic Freedom; editor The McDonaldization of Higher Education

Readings:

‘Grayling Cries Freedom’, Frank Furedi, THE http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416521

‘How dare you set up a new university!?’ Brendan O’Neill, spiked
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/10583/

‘Higher Education should be free – of state control’, Angus Kennedy, spiked
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/10600/

‘A C Grayling’s Private University is Odious’, Terry Eagleton, Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/06/ac-graylings-new-private-univerity-is-odious

‘New College Disaster and the challenge of A C Grayling’, Anthony Barnett, Open Democracy
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/anthony-barnett/new-college-disaster-and-challenge-of-ac-grayling

‘My colleagues are wrong about the New College of the Humanities’, A C Grayling, Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/15/new-college-humanities

Speaker(s):	Professor Dennis Hayes | talks | www
Date and Time:	22 June 2011 at 7:00 pm
Duration:	2 hours
Venue:	The Perseverance 63 Lambs Conduit Street London WC1N 3NB Show map
Organised by:	Institute of Ideas See other talks organised by Institute of Ideas...
Tickets:	Free, RSVP to: patrickhayes@instituteofideas.com
Available from:	RSVP to patrickhayes@instituteofideas.com. Places are limited.
Additional Information:	Visit www.currentaffairs.org.uk for more information

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