Past Present Future

Today’s episode in our series about the challenges facing universities looks at what might be the most direct threat of all: can they still fulfil their function if AI can write better essays than the students? David talks to political philosopher and university teacher Paul Sagar about his experiences of what has changed over the last year as the LLMs have come on in leaps and bounds. How is AI corroding trust between teachers and students? Are universities remotely equipped to know how to handle this challenge? Can they, in fact, survive it?

Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode to accompany this series in which David talks to historian Edward Acton about ‘Climategate’, the astonishing 2009 controversy that engulfed the university – UEA – that he was leading at the time. How did this firestorm serve as a harbinger of things to come? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time: American Elections – The 2026 Midterms w/Gary Gerstle
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For our series about the current crisis facing universities David talks to writer, philosopher and LSE professor Lea Ypi about the role played by politics in universities around the world. Is the difference between universities in different places greater than the institutional links that connect them? Can university life aspire to any kind of political neutrality and should it? What are the biggest threats to the pursuit of new understanding in a university setting? Who or what is best placed to counter these?

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time in Can Universities Survive? AI vs Higher Education
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Today’s episode is part two of David’s conversation with political theorist Alan Finlayson about the up-and-down history of British universities since 1945, taking the story from the Blair years to the present. What changed when the ambition became to send half of all young people to university? Which old barriers came down and which new barriers came up? Where did universities fit into the new knowledge economy? And how did so many of them stumble into the crisis they face today?

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time in Can Universities Survive? Politics and the International University w/Lea Ypi
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In today’s episode for our series about the plight facing universities David talks to political theorist Alan Finlayson about what’s happened to higher education in the UK since 1945. It is a story of massive expansion in the number of universities and numbers of students. What was the original rationale for this rapid growth? How did it change the social and class structure of Britain? Who were the winners and who were the losers? And what happened when this new university system collided with Thatcherism?

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time in Can Universities Survive? The Great Expansion Part 2: From New Labour to the Culture Wars
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Today’s episode is the second part of David's conversation with historian William Whyte about how universities have survived for nearly a thousand years and whether they can last much longer. How did the industrial revolution change what universities were for? Why did the attempt by French and Russian revolutionaries to abolish universities come to nothing? What made universities symbols of modernisation? And can institutions that have adapted to just about everything adapt to the digital revolution as well?

William Whyte’s new book is The University: A History in Stone, Silk, and Blood – available now https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674495180

You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time in Can Universities Survive? The Great Expansion
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