University History 2003

The last words of George V (unless one accepts the tetchy ‘Bugger Bognor’ alternative), were ‘How is the Empire?’ He had left his enquiry rather late. History Today, though, keeps a more timely eye on the state of university history. Almost half the hundred or so higher education institutions that teach history in Britain have contributed to our eleventh annual survey, and this provides a unique snapshot of opinions in tertiary-level history education. It also provides a corrective to unfounded innuendo and the headline-grabbing superlatives of the press allowing us to hear from a group of men and women whose teaching, research and writing are indispensable to the well-being of the subject.