In Axis of medieval: The aspiration for knowledge has been turned into a medieval prejudice, Frank Furedi writes that

The new technocratic jargon associated with the ascendancy of "key skills" and "competencies" is now used to justify course outlines. Subject-related benchmarking statements and departmental mission statements promise to provide students with the skills that will make them highly employable.

Unfortunately it is not possible to win the argument against philistinism by competing in the relevance stakes. Such an approach fails to challenge the vocational orientation of current policy on higher education. And by accepting the premise that the worth of a course is affirmed through its relevance, the battle for a more academic focus for higher education will be lost.

British Education ministers have sought

to associate the idea of education for its own sake with some elitist medieval institution. In reality no institution has ever pursued activities for their own sake, in the medieval past or today. The aim of this caricature is to deprecate the idea that the pursuit of knowledge and truth has some intrinsic value in and of itself.

Somehow the aspiration for knowledge has been turned into a medieval prejudice.

Taylorist higher education focused on skills and relevance may sound pragmatic and down to earth. In reality its value to society is open to question. It offers formulaic, off-the-shelf, easily quantifiable bits of knowledge whose contribution to a modern flexible society remains unproven.

Prosperity, creativity and enterprise depend on an environment of creative thought in which people have an opportunity to develop their ideas in relation to a variety of subjects and problems.

So what should be the purpose of a forward-looking 21st century university? We need universities to provide expert teaching and cutting edge research and to provide an environment for the unrestrained pursuit of knowledge. Not the kind of knowledge that flatters authorities. Not knowledge that is deemed to be a stimulant to economic growth but knowledge driven by a complex mix of passions that cannot be given a technocratic label.

(via butterfliesandwheels.com). Of course, the same thing is true of the US. I've got to say his argument appeals to my prejudices. But the use of the word philistine leaves me ambivalent: the unrestrained pursuit of knowledge is fine, but there's nothing wrong with learning, say, accounting, either.