Universities are one of democracy’s greatest weapons but short-termism and combative identity politics are undermining their strategic role, says one of Britain’s leading thinkers on governments and global economies.

Ngaire Woods, dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, said China was investing heavily in getting its best universities into the top 10 on international league tables because Beijing saw the sector as one of its most important assets in a long-term strategic plan.