(a) on the contribution which the way in which the university is governed makes to the political socialisation of its members to the values of a liberal democracy, and

(b) on the extent, if at all, to which that contribution has been eroded in recent years in Britain and West Germany.

It is assumed that universities are agencies of political socialisation and that because they educate future elites they are particularly important ones. The further assumption is made that the character of the university's internal and external governance constitutes an important part of such political socialisation.

The main changes in the governing arrangements of West German universities, introduced over the last 15 years, as part of university reform, and of British universities, brought about in more recent years by financial retrenchment, are briefly investigated and their significance for the university as an agency of liberal democratic political socialisation suggested.

Two main conclusions are reached. First, that no lasting structural change has so far been done to university autonomy in Britain, despite clear threats to that autonomy, or to the capacity of the universities in Britain to act as effective agencies of political socialisation in a liberal democracy. Secondly, the historical ambivalence in the structure of the German university between academic freedom à l'allemande and regulation by the state remains, despite some changes, essentially intact and inhibits the West German university's value as an agency of liberal‐democratic political socialisation.