We drove to Henley Business School for the annual Cambridge Society’s Berkshire branch annual lunch. The day was bright and sunny. We arrived in time for a glass of fizz before lunch. The lunch is a three-course buffet before a speech by a relevant speaker. This year we had  Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the previous vice-chancellor from Cambridge University. He gave a fascinating speech about the future of universities. He felt the elite universities would succeed, but some of the smaller universities were likely to fail. As for Cambridge, he did not see the number of undergraduates would increase. It was not economic, it costs £18,000 a year to teach a student at Cambridge, and the revenue was just £9,000. A definite loss. The proposed reduction in student loans from £9,000 to £6,000 was going to put additional pressure on Cambridge University revenues. Thankfully the Cambridge colleges have some large endowments which make up this funding shortfall.