Managers and scholars divided as resistance grows to impact agenda.

The article discusses the British government's platform on higher education with its proposal to fund research on the basis of its impact on society and the economy. Academic people including Nobel laureates and fellows of the Royal Society call for the withdrawal of the policy which they consider as ill-advised. A group of research-intensive universities profess that academic research has substantial economic potential and believe that academic excellence is the best parameter of impact in the longer term.