The HE bill will sweep away self-regulation of standards. Whose fault is that?

Well said, Geoffrey. Universities' persistence in finding ways to dumb down standards in order to keep student numbers up has come back to bite them in the neck. Hopefully, the new mechanisms will have the will to use their teeth to shut down underperforming programmes, and that this will not be yet another charade designed to induce confidence in the quality of the sector.

I'm not sure that I enjoy agreeing with everything you've written Geoffrey. Simply put I see you and your institution, for a variety of reasons, as part of the enemy. Yet what astonishes me is how easy the sector becomes united through the demise of those standards which govern our 'raison d'etre'. We all seem to acknowledge (albeit privately) that we have failed to uphold academic standards; yet we seem incapable of recognising that 'elephant in the room' which we know distorts any judgment executed at exam boards; you know, that managerial desire to caress those tables which trumpet success to their short term tenure. We've all been contaminated by that toxic stench which accompanies the award of 'first class' to a student who would never have made the 'long list' in old currency. Clearly not their fault ... but we now deserve everything we get from ignoring what we have known to have been wrong for some years. What's the phrase?? 'bad things happen when good people do nothing' ... well, we are about to reap what we've sown, and not before time.

I also agree with much of your criticism Geoffrey but I see this very much as an opportunity. If the sector supports moves to train and calibrate external examiners, creating discipline-based Colleges of peers, academics can regain control of the standards of their discipline, free from institutional pressure in a transparent and rigorous system.