Much is written apropos a rationalization for public engagement in science and technology (PEST). Less copious is a literature that considers PEST in a broader form and operationalized in the specific environment of higher education and the impact of its undertaking on the working lives of academics. This paper considers the status of public engagement in higher education (PE-HE) in the UK and the deliberations of academics, distinguished for their PE-HE activity, regarding the (im)possibility of PE-HE as an integrated and valued component of research practice and culture. This "state-of-the-art" review situates a diagnosis of PE-HE being at odds with, if not "defeated" by, the organizational structure and institutional priorities of UK universities.