The use of computerised corpora in translation research and education attracts more and more attention, even from scholars who have not directly drawn on corpora in their own research or teaching. Much of this attention has provided very valuable critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of using corpora in translation research and education, and has explicitly recognised that what corpus-based research offers us is not a theoretical paradigm as such but a set of tools and methodologies which complement rather than replace traditional ways of researching and teaching translation. In this article, the author attempts to contribute to the debate on corpora by placing corpus-based research within the broader context of emerging trends and priorities in academia. Academic institutions have always had to respond to various priorities which are either generated from within the academic community or imposed from outside – by governments, funding bodies, industry, to name a few sources of influence – for a variety of political, financial and social reasons.