A majority of university board members should be scholars elected by their peers, according to an ¡°alternative white paper¡± that champions academic freedom.

To combat ¡°corporate intrusion¡± into university governance, academic boards would be ¡°composed of an elected majority of academic staff¡­who are not managers¡±, says ¡°In Defence of Public ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø¡±, a manifesto?composed in response to last month¡¯s higher education White Paper.

At least 10 per cent of university boards ¨C known as ¡°academic boards¡±, ¡°senates¡± or ¡°congregations¡± at various institutions ¨C would also come from the students¡¯ union, with another 10 per cent elected from among technical and administrative staff, says the 37-page policy document, which is being launched at a Westminster reception on 13 June.

The self-described ¡°alternative white paper on higher education¡± has been written by representatives from several organisations, including the University and College Union, the Campaign for the Public University and the Council for the Defence of British Universities.

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Its proposals to increase institutional democracy are central to plans designed to safeguard academic freedom, reduce bureaucracy and monitoring, and roll back the ¡°new model of higher education institution that sees the investment in human capital only as a private benefit¡±.

The paper was written, it says, in light of the ¡°dismal lack of leadership by the various mission groups representing universities in the sector ¨C for example, Universities UK and the Russell Group¡±, saying their ¡°willing advocacy of a fee-loan model of funding (to avoid possible cuts) has abdicated their leadership role in a proper debate on the values of public higher education¡±.

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One of its main targets is the proposed teaching excellence framework, which it says would be ¡°disastrous¡± for public higher education because its costly bureaucracy would reduce funding for teaching, lead to ¡°dumbing down¡± and discriminate against universities with a high number of working-class students who tend to earn less when they graduate.

There is little evidence to suggest that students are not happy with their teaching, the paper adds.

¡°The government is inventing a crisis to justify imposing a costly, bureaucratic system to increase its control over academics and students, turn universities into mere production lines for ¡®workplace-ready¡¯ employees and create a marketplace for the for-profit providers,¡± the document says.

The for-profit sector is the ¡°principal beneficiary¡± of the White Paper, it adds, saying that ministers have failed to heed the cautionary tales emerging from the US about private providers.

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¡°The White Paper is sanguine about public universities going ¡®bust¡¯ and seeks to prepare for their ¡®exit¡¯,¡± it says, adding that this has been arranged to ensure that for-profit providers ¡°waiting in the wings" can access "cheap ¡®infrastructure¡¯ [by taking over] ¡®ailing¡¯ public institutions in new ¡®private-public¡¯ partnerships¡±.

With its plans for ¡°stricter government control over universities in the name of the market¡±, the White Paper presents a risk to the ¡°intrinsic meaning of ¡®the university¡¯ as well as the social benefits it has hitherto secured¡±, the paper concludes.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com