From a letter to the editor of The Guardian by philosopher James Ladyman (Bristol):

Most of our highly paid deans and pro-vice-chancellors have not conducted an undergraduate tutorial in years, and many more highly paid staff neither teach students nor carry out academic research. Deans, heads of department and promotion committees were elected, but now they are appointed from above.

Teaching is often hourly paid. Decision-making is centralised and remote from both the academic and administrative staff who interact with students, so policies to improve efficiency cause disruption and waste. Student fees are being spent on consultations and surveys, and the generation of benchmarks and targets.

Countless documents record strategic visions no poet would immortalise. The corridors echo with the banal hyperbole of public relations. Our cathedrals of learning worship metrics that do not measure anything of value.