Universities are in a building frenzy, but who is actually impressed? | Jonathan Wolff

Students will remember the low ceilings that stop them seeing the PowerPoint screen, not the brushed-aluminium finish

People say “shiny” new university buildings like it’s a bad thing. What would be an improvement? A matt finish? No doubt that could be arranged too, if your pockets are deep enough. But it’s not only the depth of the pockets that worries the critics. It’s also the shallowness of the aspiration. Shiny is a metaphor for superficiality; all about surfaces and appearances. It behoves me as a philosopher to ask: what is the underlying reality? Why have UK universities spent so much on building in recent years, and what will the consequences be?

The catalyst for change was the 1997 Dearing report, which recommended a new government funding stream to reverse years of cutbacks to capital investment and maintenance. First, the joint infrastructure fund (JIF), a £750m partnership between the government and the Wellcome Trust, followed by several iterations of the science research infrastructure fund (SRIF). Universities had to bid for JIF, and, while SRIF was allocated by formula, the conditions gave the government some limited measure of control. These schemes funded new buildings primarily for science research and teaching around the country.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2IrlLGG