Oxford, Cambridge, and the changing idea of the university: The challenge to donnish domination

This examines the changing model of the university as represented by Oxford and Cambridge. It is the first in-depth study of the two universities since Rose and Ziman's "Camford Observed" (1964). While British universities have developed different structures and procedures it is also true that they have many of the same values and many of these core values have been influenced by the Oxbridge model. In particular, the traditions of university autonomy and donnish domination of the affairs of universities have permeated British higher education. What has changed radically in the last 25 years is the political environment of higher education. State and society are more sceptical of the demands of the universities, less sympathetic to the virtues of university autonomy, and more insistent that they respond to the needs of society. How has Oxbridge interacted with this changing environment? The authors argue that the two universities have proved adept at responding to the pressures for change but, while they will continue to remain Britain's most prestitigious universities, their wider influence upon the system of higher education is in terminal decline.