The UCU have just gone back to work after a strike campaign in which they would seem to be in dispute with their management over most things but there is a particular dispute about pensions. However the Twitter commentary offered me the thoughts of an account known as University Wankings, which I felt I had to follow and they pointed me at the @THEworldunirank from the Times Higher Education supplement. I had a look at the ranking systems 10 years ago while I was helping my kids decide which universities to go to and I had been pointed at the best known ranking system of the time by my work on NESSI.
While I consider the measured quality of the UK’s Universities to be based on the fact that they all have English as a first language, the quality of research, innovation and teaching are an important, if not critical part of building an economic future worth living in, that and worker’s control.