A group of the UK’s top independent schools are considering setting up a private university.
Backers believe complaints about oversized classes and impersonal teaching at existing universities will mean strong demand for higher education provided at the standard of independent secondary schools.
A new private university would charge fees of at least £10,000 a year. It would be modelled on north American liberal arts colleges, and would focus on providing quality teaching for undergraduates rather than on research.
The plan is the work of Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of the UK’s only independent university, the University of Buckingham. It is now under consideration by the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference of independent schools.
Shadow universities secretary David Willetts welcomed the plan. “A more diverse university sector, with a range of organisations delivering higher education, is no bad thing, as long as they reach the required standard,” he said. “It would be the most blinkered ideology to stand in the way just because they were privately run.”
The plan is still in its infancy. But it is believed backers have made approaches to at least two philanthropists for funding, the Sunday times reports.