Dear Roy,
Yes, of course. It is startling to a North American to realize how
heavily bureaucratized the administration of academic life in Europe is,
and has been since the foundation of the Grands Ecoles and the
University of Berlin. As you say, non-specialist bureaucrats make
decisions about allocation of university funds among and inside
universities, as for example in the Netherlands. But I suggest more
than expressions of outrage, as justified as those might be. Can't we
find out what these mad ranking schemes are and do, scientifically speaking?
Warm regards,
Deirdre McCloskey