The great university rip-off

Britain’s top academics must be partying all the way to the bank now that they can charge their long-suffering students almost as much as they like. Around 950 of them earn more than the prime minister with such academic superstars as the head of Plymouth University (yes they apparently do have a university – probably just a rebadged poly) on �283,000 and the boss of Gloucestershire University (not normally ranked amongst the best in the world) on �229,000.

In fact, many of the bosses of former polytechnics and technical colleges have decided that they are worth massive salaries. Yet to achieve university status, all they did was lengthen most of their courses from 2 to 3 years without adding anything to the syllabus. Now that they are overcharging their students to support their own luxury lifestyles, it’s time to stop conning their students and bring their courses back to 2 years so that students don’t build up massive, unpayable debts.�But that will never happen as our academics seem intent on pocketing all the fee increases themselves rather than looking to provide value for their students.