Universities in Scotland: The Silent Coup

This article argues that Scotland’s universities have undergone a profound but largely unacknowledged transformation amounting to an administrative ‘silent coup’. Over three decades, governance has shifted from collegial, scholar-led institutions to managerial, performance-driven organisations shaped by New Public Management logics. Universities came to frame themselves as global businesses, prioritising property expansion, branding, and international fee income over academic autonomy and intellectual community. Performance indicators replaced professional judgment, undermining scholarly freedom, deskilling academic labour, and incentivising short-term, instrumental decision-making. The consequences have been demoralised staff, disillusioned students, financial fragility, and the erosion of the university as a public good. The article concludes that recovery requires dismantling the pseudo-market system: restoring democratic internal governance, ending intrusive performance metrics, and funding universities as unified academic communities rather than collections of measurable units. Trust in scholarly purpose, not managerial control, is essential to rebuild a sustainable and genuinely vibrant higher education system in Scotland.