KEF is so Soviet

The government wants to develop a “knowledge excellence framework” for English universities, the universities and science minister has announced (“Jo Johnson plans for KEF to measure knowledge exchange”, News, 12 October).

The political interference in, and the heavy-handed, prescriptive management of, our universities renders them more like mini-Soviet states – replete with ministerial diktats, five-year
plans, idiotic targets and constant monitoring – than institutions of higher education.

All this from a political party/government that denounces red tape and state control.

A private company compelled to endure just 5 per cent of the ridiculous, hyperactive political meddling that universities are subject to would go out of business in a matter of weeks.

peteinblack
Via timeshighereducation.com

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