Universities: is bigger better? (opens in new tab)

In the news recently have been the Bigger players acquiring smaller ones is a classic behaviour among companies. In a heavily marketised higher education sector, such as we now have in the UK, I suppose it should be expected to happen also. That doesn't make it productive or wise, necessarily. There is clear business sense in this particular move—getting a slice of the government investment in “defence” and in the Oxford–Cambridge corridor. In principle I see no problem with merging into a la...