The dishonesty argument hinges on university autonomy; a university that has degree awarding powers sets its own standards and could, in theory, manipulate them.
A government that is avowedly free-market is about to impose a regulatory framework that will undermine the autonomy of universities, reduce the criteria for university title and split responsibility for sector oversight of teaching and research between two new organisations, the Office of Students and UK Research and Innovation.
In 1998, the Serbian parliament passed the University Act a law that undermined the autonomy of universities and replaced academic staff with Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević's own allies.
Giliberto Capano, a political scientist at the University of Bologna who was involved in the study, said that while autonomy allowed universities to be more effective, the government also needed to address issues such as managing enrollment numbers and providing funding for underperforming universities.
The government's evaluation process punched a hole in the traditional autonomy of universities.
In time, politicians would like to see the end of central control over higher education, but they should also give colleges the same level of autonomy as universities.
His changes included giving autonomy to universities, reconstructing political parties (including the Communist Party, prohibited since 1936), and declaring war on Germany, thereby facilitating Argentina's admittance to the United Nations.
Earlier this year the Commons science and technology committee warned there was a "fundamental disconnect" between the government's desire to preserve core undergraduate physics, chemistry, technology, engineering and mathematics and its desire to preserve the autonomy of universities.
Their role as a moral and political force is rooted in the 1920s and 1930s, when General Aung San, Myanmar's independence hero (and father of Aung San Suu Kyi, the current leader of the opposition) led strikes demanding autonomy for universities and the right to set up student unions.
All this is meant to reassure fretful French voters, who think Europe is failing to protect them from global competition.Certainly Mr Sarkozy can point to some useful liberalising reforms on his watch, such as a rise in the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, or the granting of autonomy to universities.
