<p>from today's guardian:</p>
<p>Durham University has the potential to become the "Princeton of Europe", its new vice-chancellor Christopher Higgins declared today.</p>
<p>The university's relatively small size, standards of excellence and world recognition would enable it to rival the American Ivy League superstar, he said.</p>
<p>Princeton's endowment is $12.7bn (£6.33bn), the fifth largest in the US after Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of Texas.</p>
<p>That might suggest Durham has some way to go - at £47.3m, its endowment is less than 1% of Princeton's and according to a recent Sutton Trust study is not even in the UK top ten.</p>
<p>Then there are Princeton's 29 Nobel prize winners past and present.</p>
<p>Professor Higgins, who moved from Imperial College where he headed the Medical Research Council's clinical sciences centre, said Durham was "in good heart" and ambitious. </p>
<p>Being small brought many advantages. "Durham can be nimble and is well-placed to ensure its tradition of excellence in research and teaching is sufficiently robust to resist continuing pressures on higher education and to meet the challenge of globalisation. By developing its own unique brand, Durham can establish an advantage in an increasingly competitive market.</p>
<p>"Those in the know appreciate Durham and understand what makes it so distinctive, however not enough people know what Durham is all about so we need to do more to raise our profile and have an impact on the world stage," added Professor Higgins, who studied botany at Durham.</p>