The end of empire: revamped British Academy stakes claim for modern role in UK’s global mission

Rana Mitter, vice president for public engagement, keen to move on from colonial guilt and post-Brexit introspection

Britain’s most revered academic institutions ought to stop worrying about their outdated image, since they now offer the best route to global influence, according to British historian Professor Rana Mitter. The renowned China expert, now based at Harvard’s Kennedy School, told the Observer that educational prestige is an increasingly important tool for tackling challenges to trust and fresh threats to the world order – and he wants a newly revamped British Academy in London, where he is vice-president for public engagement, to play a key role.

“Outside our concerns with Brexit and decolonisation, the wider world has moved on and it still wants Britain to play a big part.