Publications

Regulated to Fail

Why British Universities Cannot Be Saved by the Rules That Broke Them

How did a university system containing so much expertise, evidence and institutional experience arrive at a position in which so many of its institutions have so few good choices left?

A forensic account of how British higher education was regulated into its present position — and why the obvious remedies keep failing. The book’s references, evidence and updates are published at regulatedtofail.com.

Published: 2026, RTF Press, London
Extent: 305 pages
ISBN: 978-1-0676223-1-2
Website: regulatedtofail.com

The 2026 Reckoning

Financial sustainability, solvency risk, and policy options for UK higher education

An independent analysis of the published accounts of 150 UK universities, with ten-year projections for income, costs and solvency. Released free of charge.

Released free of charge in March 2026, it has been downloaded more than 8,000 times and prompted extensive discussion within the sector. Regulated to Fail develops its argument.

Version: 1.0, March 2026
Extent: 395 pages
ISBN: 978-1-0676223-0-5
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18876752
Licence: CC BY 4.0

Cite as
O’Brien, J.M.D. (2026). The 2026 Reckoning: Financial sustainability, solvency risk, and policy options for UK higher education.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18876752

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Reuse

The 2026 Reckoning is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence: it may be shared and adapted for any purpose provided the author is credited. It is archived and permanently available via Zenodo at 10.5281/zenodo.18876752, so the version you cite will remain retrievable.

Earlier academic publications in visual perception, face processing and social cognition are indexed on Google Scholar and available open access through institutional repositories.

Supporting material

The interactive figures behind much of the higher education analysis are collected under charts. Shorter analysis and commentary is under writing.