by Peter Kahl; independent scholar
Published 31 July 2025
This essay presents a personal and legal intervention into the crisis of governance in UK higher education. Drawing from my unique trajectory—from a Silicon Valley engineer to a legal researcher—I outline why I have launched formal legal actions against key public and private bodies, including Universities UK, Advance HE, GuildHE, Skilled Education Ltd, Times Higher Education, and the Education Select Committee. At the heart of my campaign is a demand for transparency, fiduciary responsibility, and procedural fairness—principles increasingly absent from institutions entrusted with public money and democratic legitimacy. The essay provides a detailed account of the legal foundations for these actions, the deadlines imposed, and the consequences of non-compliance. It situates the crisis within the broader financial collapse of the sector, citing structural insolvencies, inflated tuition fees, and the misuse of public funds. It calls for democratic oversight and collective civic action as necessary counterweights to institutional opacity and policy capture. Readers are invited to engage, contribute, and support this grassroots campaign to build a higher education system that is financially sustainable, democratically accountable, and ethically governed.
higher education, UK governance, fiduciary duties, transparency, accountability, democratic oversight, student debt, administrative law, conflicts of interest, universities, Select Committee, public law, crowdfunding, institutional reform, Epistemic Clientelism Theory, fiduciary ethics, Freedom of Information, judicial review, public trust, governance integrity, financial sustainability, educational equity, grassroots advocacy
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Peter Kahl, ‘Fighting for Transparency in UK Higher Education: An Update From the Front Line’ (31 July 2025) available at <https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/Fighting-for-Transparency-in-UK-Higher-Education-Update-From-the-Front-Line>
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