ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part shows the despite individual universities at different times adjusting their priorities, the principal parameters which are central to the assessment of universities have changed little. Universities are gatekeepers of knowledge, especially through their research and universities have their own hierarchies of power, with those at the top of the hierarchy attracting the 'best' students and the most funding. The part discusses that some parameters are inexorably linked and intertwined, and that it is the prioritising of one over the others which is pertinent to the various perceived roles of universities. It considers the role of universities in the processes of transformation and transgression, people ask the reader to consider the three parameters of higher education: research, learning and teaching, and funding.
