The letters page from London Review of Books Vol. 48 No. 11 (12 June 2026) (opens in new tab)

Stefan Collini gives a clear-eyed diagnosis of the deteriorating financial position of the UK’s universities, arguing that the fee-dependent model is being eroded by compounding pressures: volatility in migration policy, enlargement of the sector, real-terms cuts because of inflation, the shift from a discerning selection of students to desperate recruitment. He concludes that a precarious situation is moving closer to structural collapse. The diagnosis is correct, but one could go further. T...