27th September 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Last year it was announced that a private university, the New College of Humanities, would open in London, charging a staggering £18,000 a year, with courses taught by some of the most famous academics in the country. The scheme sparked widespread debate about the future of higher education in the UK, with critics arguing that charging £54,000 for a degree taught by ‘celebrity’ academics was unconscionable. Founder philosopher A C Grayling insisted that there were many students and parents who would see their way to paying these fees for what would be the best education in the country. However, just three weeks before the university is due to open, the college has only recruited a third of the students it intended to for their first year.
This will cause significant difficulties and embarrassment to the founders of the college, who began the enterprise with donations from high profile private backers including the chairman of PR firm Financial Dynamics. The numbers produced this week suggest that the college will run at a significant loss this year, which will also cause embarrassment for the high profile teachers who have signed up, including booker prize winner Howard Jacobson and the Princeton history lecturer Sir David Cannadine.
The college gave out far more offers than it has students accepting the place, and revealed that many of those students who rejected their offer did so because they had received an offer from Oxford of Cambridge. Designed to mimic the teaching style and structure of these universities, the New College of Humanities is currently coming in a poor second for students, as well as being twice as expensive.