The interactive tour
The argument, in six movements.
22 chapters, 439 sources, and one question underneath all of them: how did a system built to manage risk end up manufacturing it? Start anywhere. Each stop tells you what the chapter asks and where the evidence comes from.
- 22
- Chapters
- 439
- Sources
- 10
- Datasets
Prologue
How bad it is, and why no single culprit explains it.
Origin story
How universities moved from chartered autonomy into compliance and quasi-market regulation.
Explain how British universities moved from privileged, semi-autonomous institutions into regulated providers inside a state-designed quasi-market.
Financial diagnosis
Why the current system cannot pay for itself.
Diagnose the financial mechanics of the crisis.
When Irrational Optimism Hits A Brick Wall
What does a university financial crisis actually feel like from the inside?
23 sourcesThe Cross-Subsidy Sleight of Hand
Why did universities become so dependent on international students?
25 sourcesWhy Are The Big Numbers In Brackets?
If universities are in trouble, why can't they just cut costs?
12 sourcesHow Is It A Market If The Price Can’t Change?
Why are fees so high if universities say they lose money on teaching?
25 sourcesFuelling The Prestige Furnace
Why does research need subsidising if universities compete to do more of it?
25 sourcesRegulatory contradiction
How Whitehall treats universities as cash machines and controlled utilities at once.
Show how government and regulators treat universities as controlled providers, export earners, consumer-facing firms and civic infrastructure, depending on which frame is politically convenient.
Why the obvious fixes fail
Sharing, shrinking, merger and exit are all harder than they look.
Explain why simple remedies are not simple.
Why Universities Cannot Just Share
Why don't universities just share services and save money?
28 sourcesWhy Universities Cannot Shrink Meekly
If there are too many places, why can't universities just get smaller?
18 sourcesFour Ways to Become Fragile
What do the universities in trouble have in common?
7 sourcesWhy Universities Cannot Die Quietly
What actually happens if a university fails?
29 sourcesResponsibility and repair
What was deferred, and what institutions, the sector and government must now change.
Allocate responsibility and move from diagnosis to repair.
The Decisions Deferred
Which decisions got postponed, and what did the delay cost?
19 sourcesWhat Other Systems Stabilise
Do other countries have this problem — and if not, why not?
14 sourcesWhat Universities Can Do Now
What can a university actually do about this itself?
14 sourcesWhat the Sector Must Do Together
What can universities only fix collectively?
13 sourcesWhat Government Must Change
What would government have to change for this to stop happening?
21 sourcesEpilogue
What drift chooses if nobody changes the defaults.
Another way in
Arrived with a question rather than a chapter?
The tour follows the book's order. Explore answers the questions people actually turn up with — where the money comes from, why fees are high if universities are losing money, what happens when a university fails.