Our services are development of intellect, capability and culture

Dr Michael Goldstein

While universities were, in many ways, businesses, it was all too easy to fall into the trap of measuring what they did only by the bottom line, the balance sheet or efficiency, he said.

"Universities are special because they have a deeper sense of purpose. They are creators of knowledge, understanding and insight.

"Our services are development of intellect, capability and culture.

"Universities are businesses these days - they have all the trappings of modern business and commerce, but they shouldn't be measured in the same way," said Dr Goldstein.

"League tables have got their place, but they don't measure everything."

'Non-traditional' backgrounds

Dr Goldstein said new universities were particularly short-changed by performance tables, as they were seeking to do a lot more than just widen students' knowledge.

"In all, 36% of our students are from backgrounds with no tradition of going to university," he said.

"Now take a student who has come from a deprived inner city where there is no knowledge of university.

"They come out with an enormous amount of self-development and get, say, a lower second degree - well, they have actually achieved more than someone from a public school who got three As at A-level and a first class honours degree."

Spreading tolerance

Dr Goldstein also claimed higher education had a key role to play in spreading tolerance, a fact highlighted by recent events in America and Afghanistan.

"We in universities have a huge responsibility, to strive to do all we can to engender true tolerance and real respect amongst those of different racial origin or religious belief.

"There has never been a greater need for universities to bring people together from different backgrounds and faiths to share understanding and ideas," he said.