The move to mass higher education in the UK: many questions and some answers

Abstract

This article describes the course and causes of the expansion of higher education in the UK since the 1960s. The number of university students from modest social backgrounds has increased, but they comprise much the same proportion of the university population as they did 40 years ago. Though personal rates of return from higher education are generally substantial, subject choice matters, while the extent of the returns to society is more problematic. Despite government statements to the contrary, there is still doubt about how productively new graduates will be employed in the labour market. Meanwhile, the sector has had to meet this expansion with tight public funding since the early 1980s. The article considers the impact of this and of the increase in compliance and audit costs. Finally it suggests that the incentive structures applied by the government may have made the different parts of the sector more homogenous than is desirable.

Notes

* Corresponding author: Pembroke College, Oxford OX1 1DW, UK. Email: [email protected]

In this article we follow the UK Office of National Statistics in defining higher education as consisting of courses that are of a standard that is higher than A level or its equivalent. There are three main levels of HE courses: (i) postgraduate courses leading to higher degrees, diplomas and certificates (including postgraduate certificates of education and professional qualifications) which usually require a first degree as entry qualification; (ii) first degrees; (iii) other undergraduate courses which include, for example, HNDs, Diplomas in HE and, increasingly, foundation degrees.

This and subsequent numbers are based on a consistent definition of a university as given by the National Statistics Office. They do not include general colleges and specialist institutions.

Between 1990–1991 and 1995–1996 the number of universities increased from 48 to 89.

Education Guardian, 19 May 2003, ‘Clarke dismisses medieval historians’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ken Mayhew *

* Corresponding author: Pembroke College, Oxford OX1 1DW, UK. Email: [email protected]