A battle of wills has begun between prestigious New College, Oxford, founded in 1379 and the New College of the Humanities, a private institution set up in London last year by a group of leading academics. On the surface, it is a straightforward, territorial spat, with the Oxford College pompously defending the exclusivity of its name and reputation against a new, upstart rival cheekily trying to hang on to its coat tails. But given the controversy aroused by the unveiling of the New College of the Humanities, one suspects there may be a little more to it than that.
The decision by New College, one of Oxford University’s largest colleges, to trademark its name in July last year was a clear throwing down of the gauntlet by the ancient institution. Its application was successfully confirmed in December. But the New College of the Humanities, which actually submitted its application to trademark the name earlier than its rival, in May, has not yet been granted the green light, with the Intellectual Property Office announcing an “objection to registration”, but declining to go into further details.
The tension stirring beneath the surface of all this is an uneasy result of the recent changes to tuition fees and university funding, which have left all higher education providers somewhat spooked about their financial future and security. Then, just as the chaos of last year’s setting of fees and bursary arrangements reached its peak, the New College of the Humanities strode into the melee with its threat of a new ‘super college’ to rival the ancient Oxbridge superiority. From the very beginning the new university courted controversy and baited existing institutions, claiming plans to create a “new model of higher education for the humanities in the UK” and even openly declaring the intention that it would one day rival Oxford and Cambridge.
But the real reason the academic world has got its knickers in a twist over the new institution is the prices it will charge students. Those wishing to study at the New College of the Humanities will have to fork out a whopping £18,000 per year for the privilege, a sum three times greater than the newly raised tuition fees at other universities. The academic community reacted with outrage when the proposals were unveiled last year, but the academics in charge of the New College, including biologist Richard Dawkins and philosopher A C Grayling, charged on regardless. Perhaps this latest battle is the old regime’s way of showing that it still has a few punches to throw in the academic showdown…
And clearly neither institution minds making themselves look just the tiniest bit silly in the process… the New College of the Humanities has run into hot water for claiming it is a university when it does not actually have the independent right to grant degrees, whilst New College, Oxford, has rather churlishly posted news of the other’s trademark rejection on its own website. Nah, nah, nah naaaaah nah…
