ABSTRACT
It is a symptom of our time that any suggestion that universities are in a state of crisis is dismissed as absurd. Universities proliferate – new ones are founded and student numbers increase. They are major employers and are seen by governments as not only necessary, but crucial in the competition for wealth creation. There are few articles and fewer books that question the role and purpose of the modern university. Suggestions of doubt are not only discussed, but are significantly and tellingly followed by the question of which university the person who challenges the system is from, carrying the assumption that some kind of vindictive recrimination will follow. Universities are both in competition with each other and subject to external control, which has a profound psychological effect.
