Across the globe, [the] critical distance [between universities and society at large] is now being diminished almost to nothing, as the institutions that produced Erasmus and John Milton, Einstein and Monty Python, capitulate to the hard-faced priorities of global capitalism.

Education should indeed be responsive to the needs of society. But this is not the same as regarding yourself as a service station for neocapitalism.   In fact, you would tackle society’s needs a great deal more effectively were you to challenge this whole alienated model of learning.

According to the British state, all publicly funded academic research must now regard itself as part of the so-called knowledge economy, with a measurable impact on society.
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