Times, Measures and the Man: the Future of British Higher Education Treated Historically and Comparatively

This article is a tribute to the life work of Maurice Kogan. Very little of higher education's landscape in the United Kingdom has remained unchanged over the past four decades and this article sets out to analyze the way the perception of the role of universities in society has changed in the intervening period. This it does through three perspectives: continuity and change, continuity in change and continuity in the midst of change. Each yields very different visions of the university. Against this ‘inside’ view, the second part of the article examines current British higher education policy from an ‘outsider’ standpoint and very particularly the current strategies towards the European Higher Education and Research Areas. It concludes by arguing that Britain's higher education policy vis a vis Europe re‐states a dilemma which these Islands have had to tackle for the best part of the past 250 Years. This dilemma is whether to lay priority on higher education as a global instrument or to endorse a more limited, less ambitious agenda of ‘European’ integration.     

Growing Pains: The Dearing Report from a European Perspective

The United Kingdom, like most of its European partners has achieved 'mass' higher education and Dearing has tried to come to terms with the implications of this and move the debate a stage forward from mass higher education to the learning society, embracing a much wider range of clients and forms of post school education and training. The responsibilities of individual students to manage their own learning experiences are much nearer the centre of the picture than has hitherto been normal in UK universities and colleges. There are similarities between the proposed qualification structure with stopping off points at the end of each full time year and the arrangements which have been in operation in France for some years. There are other examples of proposed convergence with continental models, not least the increase in class size and the assimilation into higher education of casual lecturers.
In contrast the paper also draws attention to the growing role of the state (disguised as the nation) in higher education and the associated 'juridification' which seems to be on the wane in Europe. Britain seems well set to discover that feature once decried as quintessential of the overmighty European State, namely the avalanche of ministerial circulars and decrees which ensured cohesion and compliance but also imposed heavy burdens on university managers.     

Euro-Philiacs,Euro-Sceptics and Europhobics: Higher Education Policy,Values and Institutional Research

The European higher education landscape is inhabited by three clans: the Euro-philiac, his wicked twin, the Euro-phobic and most interesting of all, the Euro-sceptic. This unholy trinity has long been with us. Though the recent Euro electoral fiasco has in all probability served to bolster the ranks of the second and third tribes1     

Higher education policy as an exercise in contemporary history

The study of higher education is a broad field. A recent estimate identified some 19 different disciplines and perspectives. Such range of perspectives raises central questions as to what might constitute the core areas. Whilst recognising that history does not possess a single dominant paradigm, this article suggests that history opens up several avenues not without interest to policy studies in higher education. By providing issues the outcome of which is known, history may serve as a vehicle for testing the validity of contemporary theories developed in higher education policy studies. The article argues that greater attention ought to be paid - and most particularly in studies involving cross national comparisons - to the cultural and historic specificities that permeate the formal dimensions of law, structure and administrative forms.     

Some recent Unesco publications

Notes and Reviews

Some recent Unesco publications     

Anything goes: Or,how the accommodation of Europe's universities to European integration integrates an inspiring number of contradictions

Abstract

This article analyses the implications for the integration of higher education in Europe as presented by the Bologna process. It examines the evidence presented in official documents which claim a wide‐spread consensus for this initiative. The article analyses the particular ideological commitment built into the Bologna process in the light of its four objectives Mobility, Employ ability, Competitiveness and Attractiveness. It questions whether that consensus, largely taken for granted at the higher levels of political discussion, is fully reflected in ‘le pays reel’ ‐ at the chalk face. It argues that the main test of the Bologna ‘principles’ will come when talk gives way to implementation, both at the level of first degrees and in the area of research training.