There’s a valuable analysis by John Holmwood on the Campaign for the Public University site of ‘brand protection’ in UK higher education. It’s a response to this blog post which was subsequently deleted (thankfully there are screenshots):
In a recent blog, David Browne, Senior Associate on the Employment Team for SGH Martineau, Legal firm with clients in Higher Education argued that universities face the problem that ‘high performing’ academics can damage their ‘university’s brand’ by their ‘outspoken opinions or general insubordination’.
Read the full post here. The logic of ‘brand protection’, as well as the vested interests likely to expand the scope of its pursuit, seem fairly entrenched so I suspect this is an issue which will begin to reoccur frequently.
Mark Carrigan 