The week in higher education

The good, the bad and the offbeat: the academy through the lens of the world’s media

Few issues in higher education could provoke more than 200,000 people to sign a petition, but the UK government has achieved just this by appointing journalist Toby Young to the board of England’s new higher education regulator, the Office for Students. The petition on change.org claims that Mr Young had once referred to children with learning difficulties as “illiterate troglodytes”, that he had complained that schools having to give access to children in wheelchairs is an example of “ghastly” political correctness, and that he had described state school undergraduates at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge as “stains”. Asked about the comments on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on 7 January, prime minister Theresa May said that she was “not at all impressed by those comments” but highlighted that Mr Young had apologised. “He’s now in public office and as far as I’m concerned if he was to continue to use that sort of language and talk in that sort of way he would no longer be in public office,” Ms May said.

Ms May may be reluctant to ditch Mr Young but, as Times Higher Education went to press, she was sharpening her axe for a Cabinet reshuffle that could have significant implications for the UK’s universities. Justine Greening, the education secretary, was widely reported to be on her way out of the job, while Greg Clark, the business secretary, was also tipped to move roles. The fate of Jo Johnson, the universities minister, was also unclear. With battles over international students, post-Brexit research funding and executive pay high on the political agenda, vice-chancellors will hope that the individuals who end up in the top jobs in Whitehall get up to speed as soon as possible.