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The Documentary: Influence By Degree

The Documentary: Influence By Degree: Episode 1

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Episode 1

Influence By Degree

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Influence By Degree, Episode 1

Is academic freedom at risk?  Is academic integrity under threat?

Increasingly, universities need money from benefactors. So does this place academic freedom at risk?

Is academic freedom at risk? Is academic integrity under threat? Across the developed world, government funding for universities is drying up. That means universities are having to seek finance elsewhere. 

One such model can be found in the US. American universities have been raising money from their alumni for years. Princeton University is the master at this. With only 7500 students, it has a staggering endowment of over $17 billion and well over half of Princeton's alumni donate to their old college.
 
Rob Broomby has been to Princeton to talk to alumni and to observe how freshmen (first year undergraduates) are absorbed into the Princeton culture, and hears concerns about how donations are changing academic priorities.

(Image: Mortarboards are thrown in the air, Credit: Getty Images)

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