Introduction

Abstract

In January 2010, the UK’s The Sunday Times newspaper published an article entitled ‘Why British students are flocking to America’. It began with the following invitation to its readers:

Imagine a dinner party in west London. The wine is flowing and so is the conversation. A successful baby-boomer father turns to the woman on his left and boasts ‘Chloe’s at Oxford, you know’. But she merely raises an eyebrow. Oxbridge is so common these days. ‘Henry’s at Yale,’ she replies coolly. In the silence that follows the envy is palpable as the man, who is used to feeling superior, realises he’s missed a trick. This is the nightmare scenario propelling today’s pushy parents to go one step further for their school-leaving children. The bar has been raised. The best British universities no longer carry enough cachet to impress. (Hunt-Grabbe, 2010)