New year’s irresolution

January begins and universities are once again on the front line

In the first full round of Sunday media for 2022, education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was sent out to bat for a government sinking in the polls amid accusations of sleaze, double standards and incompetence. The obvious strategy, then, was to take a pop at universities.

The Sunday Times ran a widely picked-up interview with Zahawi in which he said: “I want to repeat that my expectation of universities is that they deliver face-to-face education…They need to deliver it…and if students feel they are not getting value for money, they should take that up with the Office for Students.”