Leader of the ‘anti-university crusade’

Whilst Dolan's reported comments seem to me to reflect an age old 'what's the point of university?' line taken by successful non-graduate businessmen, Francis' point above assumes that universities are primarily about training for professions. What about contributing to knowledge and understanding? I grew up with the understanding that this was what universities were for. Sadly, however, Francis may be right: it does seem that some universities focus resources and media coverage on their medical schools and can't see the benefit of humanities and languages. Ho hum.