What’s a university?
The strange story of theUnited Kingdom
Peter Williams
Chief Executive,
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
United Kingdom

Is a university…
•••••••••••

An institution that can award degrees?
A place where students study for a degree?
A resource allocation mechanism?
A seat of learning?
A community of scholars?
A teaching institution?
A research institution?
A teaching and research institution?
A powerhouse for economic development?
An advanced skills training college?
An independent bulwark of democracy?

There is no universallyaccepted definition of auniversity

From the ‘Magna Charta
Universitatum’
Bologna, Italy, 1988
• A university ‘produces, examines,
appraises and hands down culture byresearch and teaching’• Teaching and research in universities
must be inseparable if their tuition is not
to lag behind changing needs, thedemands of society, and advances inscientific knowledge.

In the United Kingdom there are now
two sets of criteria for a university, one
for England and Wales, another for
Scotland and Northern Ireland

How did this state of affairs
come about?

Before 1992, university title had nolegal protection:• Universities were set up either by Royal
Charters or acts of Parliament• All universities were empowered toaward any degrees they wished• There was no regulation of the title• There were very few ‘bogus’ institutions

After 1992, powers to award degrees
were divided into ‘taught degree
awarding powers’ (bachelors’ andmaster’s degrees) and ‘researchdegree awarding powers’ (researchmaster’s and doctorates)

After 1992, university title wasprotected by law:
• Only institutions with taught and research-degree
awarding powers could apply to call themselves
universities• Applicants had to have• at least 300 full-time equivalent higher education
students in 5 of the 11 subject areas listed for thispurpose;• a higher education enrolment of at least 4,000 full-time
equivalent students;• at least 3,000 full-time equivalent students on degreelevel courses;• at least 60 current research degree registrations andmore than 30 Doctor of Philosophy (or direct equivalent)conferments.

A college which had taught degree
awarding powers but with too few
students to call itself a university
could call itself a ‘university college’In 2004 the ministries of education inEngland and Wales changed theirdefinition of a university:• Applicants must• have been granted powers to award taughtdegrees• normally have at least 4,000 full time equivalenthigher education students, of whom at least 3,000
are registered on degree level courses (includingfoundation degree programmes); and,• be able to demonstrate that it has regard to theprinciples of good governance as are relevant toits sector.

Why the changes in England andWales?
• The ministry wanted to enhance thestatus of teaching• It wanted to acknowledge the work ofsmall and specialist institutions• It did not believe in the inseparability ofteaching and research

The change in the regulations• Demonstrated the significance of the‘university’ title• Made university title a political matter• Raised the question of ‘what is auniversity?’• Broke the link between universities andresearch degrees

The rules weren’t changed in
Scotland and Northern Ireland, whichthought the English/Welsh changes
wrongly broke the teaching/researchlink

So what is a university?
• In the UK, it means just what theminister chooses it to mean - neither
more nor less