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Council for the Defence of the British Universities

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Council for the Defence of British Universities
AbbreviationCDBU
Formation2012; 12 years ago (2012)
TypeCLG
Region served
United Kingdom
Chair of the Executive Committee
Julian Preece
WebsiteCDBU Official website

The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) is a group of individuals who express worries about the long-term direction of higher education policy in the United Kingdom and lobby for fundamental changes. They particularly oppose the marketisation of Higher Education in the country.

The CDBU was founded in November 2012[1][2] by 66 founding members, including Sir Michael Atiyah, Sir David Attenborough, Alan Bennett, Sir Colin Blakemore, Dame Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, Marcus du Sautoy, Sir Deian Hopkin, Sir Tim Hunt, Sir Paul Nurse, Dame Bridget Ogilvie, David Pannick, Baron Pannick, Sir Roger Penrose, Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, Quentin Skinner, and Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer.[3] It is incorporated in England as a not for profit company limited by guarantee.[4]

Governance

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The CDBU is run by an executive committee whose chair is Julian Preece.[5] Current members of the executive committee are Susan Bruce, John Holmwood, Ron Barnett, Kelli Rudolph, Benedict Loewe, Christopher Cunningham, Carlos Azevedo, Steven Jones, Terrence Karran, James Ladyman, Anne Sheppard, Aneez Esmail and David Wolton.[6] The current chair of the board of trustees (since 2020) is Rowan Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth.[7]

Campaigns and activities

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CDBU's three main campaigns are dealing with the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), precarious employment in Higher Education, and private for-profit universities. CDBU organises events[8] and annual lectures; the speaker of the 2019 CDBU lecture was Stephen Toope, the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University.[9] The speaker at the 2017 AGM was FT journalist and writer, Martin Wolf.[10] The guest speaker in 2013 was Stefan Collini.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Sir Peter Scott (12 November 2012). "Academics have started to argue back on higher education reforms". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  2. ^ McKibbin, Ross (2012-12-12). "Ross McKibbin | In Defence of British Universities". LRB Blog. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
  3. ^ "CDBU Founding Members". CDBU. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  4. ^ "COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF BRITISH UNIVERSITIES (Company number 07972001)". Companies House. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  5. ^ "What's the real worth of 'low-value' degrees?". The Guardian. 2023-07-19. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
  6. ^ {{cite web https://cdbu.org.uk/who-we-are | website = CDBU | title = CDBU: Who We Are | access-date = 17 April 2024 }}
  7. ^ "Press Release: CDBU announces new Chair of Trustees and responds to government "Restructuring Regime"". CDBU. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  8. ^ E.g., "The Future Role of the Educator in Higher Education". Special Interest Group Higher Education (SIGHE) of the Worshipful Company of Educators. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  9. ^ Stephen Toope (31 January 2019). "Making the case for universities: how do we best tell our story?". Cambridge University. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Martin Wolf: HE bill's market vision 'defective' and 'unworkable'". Times Higher Education (THE). 2017-01-27. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
  11. ^ "Collini lambasts Oxford's economic defence of humanities". Times Higher Education (THE). 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
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