Business cashes in 1

On April 22, 1988, The Times Higher published a letter from Malcolm Pearson, then treasurer of the Council for National Academic Awards, in which he argued that the council should "firmly grasp the nettle of narrow teaching, wherever necessary, be it of a Marxist, Hayekian or any other kind".

Nearly 20 years later, we are witnessing the emergence of "business-facing" universities. This means that employers will "exert real leverage over content and delivery of programmes" ("Take a business-facing approach, ministers say", July ). Writing in the same issue, Bob Brecher is right when he says we should be grateful to the new Prime Minister for making it clear that "the function of universities is to serve the neoliberal economy". We have come a long way since Thatcher.

Mike Cole
Bishop Grosseteste
University College Lincoln