Britain’s first for-profit university has been established by the investment firm Montagu Private Equity. The conversion of the College of Law, established in 2006, into a degree-awarding institution, without state funding – the first such university, promoted by the government to introduce market economics into higher education.
In the usual sleight of hand the government quotes the University of Buckingham as being the trailblazer in this process. That was established in the 1980s as a non-profit research institution with charitable status. It may have been independent of state funding but it was the opposite of the self-styled for-profit “University of Law”.
The University of Law sees its marketplace as being in “strategic collaborations” with similar institutions in Singapore, Beijing and Madrid. In other words, foreign students will provide the cash flow. Or others may see it on par with the legendary School of English in Oxford (Street) which graces central London. ■