All in

A long hot summer of higher-education discord lies ahead

Playbook had long since given up expecting any vice-chancellor to stand up to the provocations of the Conservative government in Westminster. The more ministers at the Department for Education pushed the Overton window to the right, the more it seemed as if our world-class university managers wanted to be seen to agree with the government’s “legitimate concerns”.

So, it was surprising to see last week that Universities UK had written to the further and higher education minister Michelle Donelan to tell her that “an important line had been crossed” with the instruction that universities should not associate themselves with Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter.