Celebrating Student Success. But what did the university actually contribute?

Paul Morrill | November 2026

I've become increasingly amused by the endless institutional self-congratulation on LinkedIn. Awards ceremonies, networking receptions, declarations of excellence and the clinking of champagne flutes containing what is probably rather cheap plonk.

There's nothing wrong with celebrating achievement. What interests me is how readily a student's success becomes evidence of institutional excellence, often without anybody establishing what the institution actually contributed.

In my latest essay, I draw upon Richard Feynman, Peter Fleming's Dark Academia, organisational psychology and Demis Hassabis's thoughts on AI and education.

I introduce what I call the institutional contribution problem and indulge in a little speculation about what schools and universities might look like if AI made much routine teaching unnecessary. Would the savings fund more meaningful individual education, or simply fewer academics?

The essay is fully referenced and available on my Substack:

Celebrating Student Success. But what did the university actually contribute?

I leave readers with one rather uncomfortable question:

Did the student succeed because of the university, or did the university succeed because of the student?

#HigherEducation #ArtificialIntelligence #EducationalPsychology #UniversityManagement #FutureOfEducation