Mr Robinson warned that the drift in western countries towards commercialised universities and dubious quality providers must be resisted if universities are to preserve their function as reservoirs of research and innovation.

Danish speaker, Jens Vraa-Jensen, of Education International (EI), warned that universities cannot be managed according to market principles and at the same time fulfil their basic mission.

Mr Vraa-Jensen said: “The basic raison d’être for any private enterprise is to create profit for its owners. The purpose of a university is not profit but to spend money in the most appropriate way on teaching students and conducting research to develop the intellectual capacity of future generations and provide the society with new knowledge for future development and welfare”.

Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary, said: “Irish universities must not become the pawns of market forces and private speculators, who view education as just another source of profit and their students like customers in a supermarket”.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

Biographical notes of the speakers and outlines of the themes of their talks are available on our seminar page.