Back in the good old days these "Universities" were still largely off-shoots of the "summer schools" that were once a regular feature of all internal communist and labour movement efforts in the 20th century. Now summer schools as such are a thing of the past -- replaced by "seminars" or dropped altogether in favour of much cheaper but equally much more boring remote learning via the internet.
The CPB still keeps the Marx Memorial Library's lecture programme going -- which is a mixed bag (as it always was even in the halcyon days of the 1970s) but it struggles, like the rest of the movement, to get an audience that goes beyond the hard-core of regular attenders these days.
The "Speaking Tour" is thankfully gone (remember them back in the 70s -- Jack Woddis sending people to sleep and Gollan waffling on about time to change course) though it's heartening to see the crowds attracted to the Enough is Enough rallies that are now taking place throughout the country.

pip,pip,

H A R Philby
(Col.ret'd)