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What does the ideal university look like? In Britain, it has long been thought to resemble Oxford. The dreaming spires have bewitched students and academics for nearly a thousand years, though few were privileged enough to study among them. Nowadays Oxford is trying hard
to attract students from all backgrounds.
But staff told me that it does not apply that principle to hiring professors: it’s practically impossible
for poorer academics to work there.
The university has a long way to go before its hiring practices are as admirable as its architecture.
Across the pond, universities and colleges are also struggling to improve access.
Diversity statements
have become de rigueur; studies claim that as many as one in five faculty jobs across America now require them. Some institutions have dropped the requirement for students to submit
standardised exam scores,
which campaigners claim favour the privileged. Meanwhile, other institutions are lurching to the right: Conservatives have seized control of
New College in Florida,
which was long associated with left-wing ideas. In America ideology is crowding out learning—and students are likely to be the ones who suffer as a result.
Whichever path you think universities should take, these articles will encourage you to think anew. Happy reading. |
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