Stalin in UK universities

An article  in the Times Higher points out the parallels between higher education in Stalin’s Russia and today’s UK system. Government’s and now university management’s love of targets, metrics and meaningless competition (leagues tables, research assessment) are something Stalin would have recognised. Not that our Fiddler on the River House Roof is exactly Stalin ­– he doesn’t have a moustache for a start – but he certainly has his five-year staff demotion plan and has further purges in mind following the disappearing of the School of Surveying & Planning.