Do academics still think? Is this the student experience? What is the future of science? Funding and freedom - where are we going wrong? Are Mickey Mouse degrees crucial to the economy? Should we understand the Bologna Process? How do we select students for universities of the future? What does globalization mean for research and teaching?

'Can The Prizes Still Glitter?' is the inaugural publication of Agora, a new independent think tank focusing on the future of our universities. Thirty-four high profile vice chancellors, politicians, business people and academics from a range of disciplinary backgrounds and a variety of institutions have written personal essays about where universities are now and where they ought to be. Between them they tackle the whole spectrum of higher education. They confront many of the big and often uncomfortable issues Britain needs to face up to, exhibit some of the solutions of which individual institutions are proud, and outline the kind of tough decisions that politicians and university leaders need to take if British institutions are to match rapid progress elsewhere in the world.