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Britain’s top universities are regularly rated as the world’s best. Institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial dominate global league tables.They produce world-leading research, generate major export revenues for the Exchequer and give Britain real “soft power” influence around the world.
What sort of vandal would want to name them as dragons and set about them with sword and lance? Isn’t criticising those top universities the sort of narrow, success-hating chippiness that holds Britain back instead of making it better?
Before I explain myself, I should get the biographical point out of the way. I have a degree from Edinburgh University but no, I’m not a bitter Oxbridge reject. I turned down a place at Oxford, with no regrets.
I only mention this because it’s almost impossible to discuss these issues without reference to personal experience. Like the woeful political debate about grammar schools, people who are supposed to be educated in critical thought throw all detachment out of the window when you talk critically about the sort of institution that they attended.
So I expect that when I say here that Britain’s domination by Oxbridge and other “top” universities is a wasted opportunity and maybe even harmful, some of the graduates of those universities will get upset. And in so doing, they reveal the dragon I really want to slay: the lazy, lopsided, uncritical veneration of supposedly elite universities (and their graduates), at the expense of other forms and providers of education, and the people they serve.
British national life is dominated by a handful of HE providers and the people they educate. Pretty much every significant economic and political power-centre is dominated by graduates of those top universities. Getting into Oxbridge or another “Russell Group” university is almost universally used as a measure of cleverness and success. With reason, too: you need to be smart to get in, and going there will increase your chances of getting the sort of high-paid, high-status job that other people who go to similar universities regard as the most desirable and important.
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