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The free-market gamble: has Covid broken UK universities? | Universities | The Guardian
Source: theguardian.com
Article summary:
1. The University of Manchester made more than £1bn in 2018-19, similar to the combined income of the city’s two global sporting brands.
2. Students were promised “blended learning” but ended up with little or no in-person teaching and had to stay in their halls of residence, with all the stresses that go with living away from home for the first time.
3. The marketisation and commodification of higher education has led to universities competing for students and maximising their revenue from other sources, such as renting out facilities and accommodation for conferences between terms, and foreign students who pay higher fees than those from Britain.
Article analysis:
The article is generally reliable and trustworthy, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of UK universities during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is well-researched, citing multiple sources throughout to back up its claims. The article also provides a balanced view on the issue, exploring both sides of the argument – while it does criticise universities for their handling of the pandemic, it also acknowledges that they have been put in an almost impossible position by a government that has promoted entrepreneurial expansion but has yet to show them crisis support.
The only potential bias in this article is that it does not explore counterarguments or present both sides equally when discussing marketisation and commodification of higher education – while it does acknowledge some benefits such as increased student choice, it largely focuses on how this has led to exploitation of students for profit. However, this bias is understandable given that this article was published in The Guardian which tends to be left-leaning politically.