Joyce Bryant

Return of Joyce Bryant's brilliantly observed and all-too-true comedy about a new university struggling in the opposing tides of modern educational orthodoxy and market forces. At Hayborough University, like everywhere else in higher education, the deterringly high fees have kicked in as has a 20 per cent funding cut. So, as exam results arrive and potential students check their actual marks against the predictions, there's much juggling to do with who will go where. But at Hayborough these are desperate times. They must keep up their intake. So, how?

If your household is anxiously awaiting A-level results, hoping for the best, dreading the possibility of not getting into a top university, this nimble and astute satire by Joyce Bryant could make your hair stand on end or bring on gales of laughter (or possibly both). It's set at Hayborough University, 132 in the national rankings, so desperate for funding they've brought in a scary new Dean of Research Development. The schemes she comes up with are not far removed from academic reality, either. Sophie Thomson and Jonathan Keeble star.