“A lot of people think that education is all about knowledge. Facts are indispensible, of course, but education is also about ideas –good ones, bad ones and more still in contention. They all need to be tested under the rigour of scholarly debate and intellectual analysis. But there’s another thing about education: it shouldn’t end at the college gates. That’s why I’m delighted to be involved in the Battle of Ideas. It helps bring ideas out of the seminar room and into the crucible of public debate.”

Dr Richard Howells, Director, Centre for Cultural, Media and Creative Industries Research, King’s College London