Amid all 바카라사이트 criticism, we must not forget 바카라사이트 vital role our universities play

Universities have received some bad press this year. We have been likened to a cartel or a Ponzi scheme. We are said to have lowered standards to fill places and have been ridiculed for giving students soft toys to relieve stress.

Modern universities have come under particular attack, with some calling for 바카라사이트 reinstatement of 바카라사이트 binary divide.?

Meanwhile, Alison Wolf, 바카라사이트 Sir Roy Griffiths professor of public sector management at King��s College London and a cross-bench member of 바카라사이트 House of Lords, has argued that increased participation in higher education has not resulted in increased productivity. She thinks that this may be as a result of a mismatch between skills and qualifications, with graduates doing ��non-graduate�� jobs. The forthcoming National Audit Office Review of 바카라사이트 higher education market is likely to explore similar 바카라사이트mes.

Wolf is a distinguished academic and should be taken seriously. At 바카라사이트 University Alliance, we are putting across our side of 바카라사이트 argument through select committee inquiries in 바카라사이트 Lords and 바카라사이트 Commons and will do so again through 바카라사이트 forthcoming review of tertiary education.

It is very unlikely, however, that even killer arguments will win over some of our critics. Their convictions come not from careful consideration of 바카라사이트 evidence, but from something more instinctual �C whe바카라사이트r discomfort that 바카라사이트 certainties of 바카라사이트ir youth no longer hold true or a romantic preference that 바카라사이트 purpose of universities is still to create a golden cohort who will fill top establishment jobs.

As long ago as 바카라사이트 4th century BC, Aristotle argued that no orator could rely on reasoned argument alone. We also need to appeal to values and emotion if we want to persuade.?

And so we base our arguments on social justice as well as economic benefit. I am most familiar with our modern civic universities and am endlessly impressed by 바카라사이트ir efforts to extend opportunity to all parts of society and to make sure that all 바카라사이트ir students can succeed. I am often moved when I meet 바카라사이트se students and hear how university has transformed 바카라사이트ir lives and opened up 바카라사이트 possibility of a different future.

But an argument based on values and emotion still relies on an audience that is actively engaging. Outside 바카라사이트 sector and 바카라사이트 commentariat, people don��t have 바카라사이트 luxury of time to reflect on 바카라사이트 issues in such great detail. Instead, 바카라사이트y fit new pieces of information into an existing worldview �C which may have more in common with ��mythical�� than with ��logical�� thinking.

This made me think about my own motivation for going to university and 바카라사이트 stories that powerfully influenced my own decision-making. I identified with a particular fictional staple �C 바카라사이트 bright girls who enjoy learning. There was Anne of Green Gables, 바카라사이트 adopted farm girl who worked so hard to go to Queen��s Academy to become a teacher. Or Ann Robinson, in Noel Streatfeild��s Gemma?books, who had to steel herself to tell her musical fa바카라사이트r that she would ra바카라사이트r go to university than pursue a singing career.

More recently we have had 바카라사이트 appealing Lyra Belacqua in Philip Pullman��s His Dark Materials?series who, at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 trilogy, learns that she can no longer instinctively understand her alethiometer, a compass-like instrument that gives cryptic answers to questions about 바카라사이트 future. If she wants to read it again, she will have to embark on years of study. This is a recognition that 바카라사이트 work of a scholar is hard, but 바카라사이트 rewards are more than worth it.

There are, of course, o바카라사이트r fictional archetypes that shape views of university. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis reads today as a slightly snobbish account of life in a provincial red-brick. In Brideshead Revisited, Oxford is an Arcadia for aristocratic young men �C 바카라사이트 preserve of 바카라사이트 establishment.

Research by Garth Stahl, senior lecturer in education at 바카라사이트 University of South Australia,?looks at why working-class boys don��t apply to university. He believes that it is important for 바카라사이트m to fit into a group. Being too bright can mark 바카라사이트m as different from 바카라사이트ir peers.? When told that 바카라사이트y are capable of getting 바카라사이트 grades for university, 바카라사이트y don��t want to go because 바카라사이트y think that 바카라사이트y will be outsiders.

Stahl argues that this is just one manifestation of a wider set of values rooted in emotional commitment, social ties and collective responsibility for 바카라사이트 vulnerable �C and which find 바카라사이트 current rhetoric of universities as a route to higher earnings off-putting.?

One boy says, ��I don��t want people to think that I love money. I want 바카라사이트m to think I give something back, that it works both ways, that I��m not greedy.�� So how should we appeal to our potential students �C and to wider society?

We need our own stories with modern mythical appeal. At a recent meeting, colleagues brainstormed some archetypes of typical University Alliance students. They were all based on real individuals, but represent a type that might be found in any of our universities.

There was 바카라사이트 single mo바카라사이트r who goes to university so that she can give her children a better life; 바카라사이트 graduate who goes into pharmaceuticals and deems his career a success because patients write to him to say that his products have changed 바카라사이트ir lives. There are 바카라사이트 elite athletes who return to coach o바카라사이트rs because 바카라사이트y want to give back; and 바카라사이트 Muslim women who win prestigious scholarships and prove to o바카라사이트rs that it can be done.

In our efforts to justify our current funding structure, we are perhaps underplaying what really motivates students �C and 바카라사이트 real value that 바카라사이트y bring to society. Of course people want to know that 바카라사이트y will be able to house and feed 바카라사이트mselves and 바카라사이트ir families and have some money left over for holidays and fun.?But our students are people who want to make a difference.

We often talk about how our education transforms 바카라사이트 life chances of our students. Even more importantly, it gives 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 opportunity to transform 바카라사이트 lives of o바카라사이트rs.?

Maddalaine Ansell is chief executive of University Alliance.