The Mail is reporting that universities are trying to put themselves beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act.
Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are consulting on whether to remove universities from the law, which obliges public bodies to respond to requests for information about their finances and how they operate.
The proposal is in a consultation document on education reform and comes on top of another, hugely controversial, review of the Act ordered by the Cabinet Office.
There is no point in having a publicly funded dreaming spire if the public can see that all you are doing is dreaming.