“When I started teaching, if students got a bad essay mark they apologised to the tutor. Today, when students get bad marks there’s a chance they will come to see the tutor with their lawyer in tow”.

University of Manchester professor Hillel Steiner is a world-renowned thinker on matters of political theory.

Features Editor Nick Renaud-Komiya met up with him to chew the fat on Libertarianism, politics and the state of higher education. Here’s how they got on.

Do you have the right to the fruits of your talents? This seems like a simple question. Yet, people have gone to war over this question; those who say ‘yes’ have fought those who say ‘no’. Libertarianism? Socialism? Communism? All of these ‘-isms’ are essentially attempts to answer this question in one way or another. Are you and you alone the arbiter of your lot in life? Or do you have a duty to help others and they you?

What can newcomers expect from their time here? And what challenges lie ahead for students? University is a strange and daunting new world. But embrace all it has to offer and it will be an experience you won’t forget.