http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5295656.stm

exactly. And there are already many research students funded by "private sponsors" instead of government. I really don't see the point.

Hmm, I don't feel like I'm in a position to do something like that, and I doubt it would be possible for science subjects. I quite like having the support of Profs with decades of experience, I wouldn't want to go it alone. Their research sounds interesting though, something I often think about.

On their website they say:
we will "not be bound to prevailing paradigms of social and political discourse"
we aim to create "a network of people who feel that the current higher education system stifles their abilities and potential"
we are "positively elitist and meritocratic. We wish to re-create the academic ethos that got lost in today's mass universities"
and
"We enjoy the ambiguity of being, at the same time, independent of the University of Sussex and on campus, of being research students but also student leaders and researchers of our own making"
Methinks they're a little too big for their boots. If they really HAVE been stifled, then I guess I should admire them though.

are you ok dan? :|

sue, i think it is possible to do something similar for sciences. unfortunately, there arent many rich people willing to fund this kind of work in the uk.

i dont think they can afford to move out unless someone rich gives them some serious money to do it.

I am with DanB. on this one. It sounds like they are trying to build their way up to becoming an organisation that is "eligible" to apply for the research funding directly. They will use the status of the University, but they will be against it.. I don't particularly like what they are doing. In the end they will become another organisation who controls the money.