A TOP headmaster has launched a blistering attack on the university for favouring prestigious research projects over helping undergraduates.
Martin Stephen, head of St Paul's, the top London public school with fees of £21,000 per year, has lambasted The University of Manchester.
The university has come under fire in recent months for neglecting undergraduates as they focus their efforts on research.
The controversial new Arthur Lewis building was built primarily for the use of professors, researchers and admin staff.
Mr Stephen taught modern poetry to third year students at the university for four years.
He said: "I am dismayed at the lack of contact between staff and students."
The university has been criticised in the past for its timetabling. Student Direct reported last term that a sizeable proportion of students were dissatisfied with the amount of teaching they receive from staff.
Arts and Social Science students were most unhappy, with many timetables consisting of less than ten hours teaching per week.
Mr Stephen, the author of seventeen books and holder of a PhD from The University of Sheffield, contrasted the situation at the university with the "halcyon" days he experienced as a student at The University of Leeds during the 1960s.
He suggested the emphasis had shifted away from quality of teaching towards research, saying the university was now primarily interested in getting in "big name researchers."
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