Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools, has joined the University of Buckingham as a research professor.
He plans to demonstrate how the extension of independent education in the United Kingdom will offer all, regardless of income, a better education.
Sally Hunt, assistant general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said: "His ideas are more suited to the shock values of a radio phone-in show than an institution of learning. I hope that in future he devotes himself to private study rather than continuing to interfere in the dedicated and professional work of UK teachers."
Professor Woodhead is in good company - vice-chancellor Terence Kealey was reviled by his former colleagues at the University of Cambridge for suggesting that the state should not fund science.