Fundamental academic values, such as free and open debate, are at risk, a leading UK vice-chancellor said this week.

Nigel Thrift, vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick, told a conference in Hong Kong that ¡°core academic values¡± must be protected against financial constraints and managerial pressures ¡°at all costs¡±.

In a speech to the ¡°Managing University Reputation in a Competitive World¡± conference at the University of Hong Kong, Professor Thrift said that a university that did not protect academic values was ¡°not a university¡±.

¡°But these academic values are coming under pressure ¨C the free and open communication of ideas, academic freedom, disinterestedness, working for the common good,¡± he asserted.

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Professor Thrift quoted the 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who said that universities should be ¡°places of light, liberty and of learning¡±.

These were still the ¡°fundamental values of world-class universities¡±, he said. ¡°We must ensure that they are protected at all costs. Everything else is secondary. These are the things that are likely to be forgotten [as a result of current funding challenges and increased government control] but without them, we stop being universities.¡±

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In the speech, titled ¡°Leading and Inspiring Top Staff¡±, Professor Thrift said universities were getting less and less government funding, but more and more government control.

¡°At some point there has to be a break in that,¡± he added.

He noted that Warwick was reducing its reliance on state funding, with just 23 per cent of its total income now coming directly from government.

¡°Never become overly reliant on government funding,¡± he advised.

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He said that Warwick had 17 freestanding commercial businesses, ¡°but all profits are ploughed straight back into the academic front line. It gives us freedom ¨C a little rainy-day fund we can use in ways that others cannot.¡±

He also said that the university used a ¡°flat¡± management structure, with fewer tiers of management and reduced bureaucracy.

¡°We believe it works much, much better,¡± he said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t produce mini empires; it stays reasonably fit and flexible. But a small cadre of managers do have to work like crazy, because everything is their responsibility.¡±

phil.baty@tsleducation.com