Private concerns 2

The Times Higher should report on the current differences between the University and College Union and Into University Partnerships, not join the battle. Yet the opening sentence of your report talks of a "takeover" as part of a "wave", while a subsequent sentence talks of Into having other institutions "in its sights".

These are inflammatory metaphors: Into is not taking over universities or drowning them or shooting them. It is entering into voluntary partnerships, putting in capital and managerial expertise that the universities evidently don't have but would themselves supply if they did. As you yourselves admit, although hiding it in your third paragraph, the arrangement is "to share the funding and profits" of a joint venture, and also entails sharing the risks.

John Bird
By e-mail