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When is a University not a University? Belfast Telegraph Article 20th October 2015 see: http://www.belfasttelegraph. co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/ were-all-poorer-if-profit-not- learning-is-bottom-line- 34122818.html#comments When it is a business perhaps?    The recent episodes of Queen’s: A University Challenged on BBC were illuminating.   They shed some light onto the vast extent of an operation that is typical of a modern university.   But shocking to many was the incessant stressing of Queen’s as a “business”. That the programme makers dwelled on this reflects an emphasis deliberately concocted by the management. This uncovering of Queen’s as a “business” reveals an inherent dilemma and tension affecting many universities. The programme’s episodes serve us well by opening up the debate about what a university is, what it is for and its mission in our advanced society.   For if indeed it is a “business” it is a strange one.   Strange for a business to be regulated by Royal Ch