The writer is president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester and former deputy vice-chancellor of Sydney University
Since arriving from Australia in August, I’ve found the debate about higher education in the UK to be reminiscent of the parable involving three blind men and an elephant. Stumbling through the jungle, they encounter a large obstacle. The first, finding its trunk, thinks it is a water hose. The second, feeling its large, flat ears, thinks they are fans. The third, climbing the vast torso, thinks he has ascended a throne.
Much like these blind men, we seem to be grasping at different parts of a complex system, each seeing only a fragment of the whole. This parable came to mind after attending my first conference held by Universities UK, our umbrella body, in Reading this month. The mood was a mixture of gloom and faint hope — amid all the unhappiness around higher education, the new government has at least tried to steady the ship by stopping the hostile rhetoric and seeking partnerships with universities rather than picking fights.