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Recently I attended a talk by Stefan Collini about What Are Universities For?, his new book. I expected the venue (a bookshop in central London) to be packed with students, lecturers, perhaps even the odd vice-chancellor, as well as many members of the public. Instead, there were about a dozen people present, of whom two or three were bookshop staff. Does this mean we all know the answer to Collini's question? Or does nobody care?

Ian Lebeau, Senior lecturer in English as a foreign language, London Metropolitan University