Calling Academia to Account : Rights and Responsibilities

* If universities are of value to the community, that value needs to be defined and constantly monitored. What are they for?* Universities are complex organizations. How can they be run so as to provide an environment within which students and staff can work and think and write to the best effect?* Academic judgments decide the class of degrees, and the appointments and promotions prospects of academic staff. How should such judgments be formulated, and how tested for fairness and accuracy?The very purpose of universities is being called into question by recent changes in the ways they are run and funded, the way their standards are maintained, and the assumptions upon which they do their teaching and research. Calling big institutions to account is not easy. It takes a sharp eye for detail and both boldness and persistence on the part of the whistleblower. But it is important that universities should be accountable, and Calling Academia to Account explores this issue comprehensively.

G. R. Evans is a historian and theologian at the University of Cambridge.