Reshaping the University

Abstract

The book’s central goal is to understand the development of higher education in contemporary England. At the core of the political steering of English higher education is a state-regulated market that functions under government control. The book places this argument in a historical context and maintains that, although this is a steering mechanism that is associated with the current Coalition Government, it has evolved steadily in recent years under governments of different political persuasion. However, although development is steered from the centre, the intention is not to dictate to individual institutions of higher education, but rather to guide the overall character of the HE landscape. Despite the political push to create a diverse model for English HE, most HEIs seem intent on defining their missions in traditional terms: including a research agenda. The book also has a strong comparative dimension. It sees US higher education as the most likely future model in which a diverse system, incorporating contrasting (even conflicting) ideas of higher education prevails, underwritten by a combination of both private and public funding and which accepts (with some qualms) the idea of for-profit providers. However, a key distinction, and one which the book sees as working to the benefit of the English model, is that change is directed by a state-regulated market with the excesses likely to be generated by free-market forces kept at bay—albeit that the regulatory state may well demand greater price competition, encourage more innovation, and enforce increased consumer protection for the student purchaser.

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