The supermarketed university: reform, vision and ambiguity in British higher education

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Notes

One of the more interesting examples of the European reform referred to above is to be seen in the Bologna Process itself – often regarded by some as the first step in giving flesh to that otherwise metaphysical entity the ‘European’ (sic) higher education system, more apparent to those outside then it is to those who, on the inside, have to put it in place. The Bachelor – Master – Doctor structure of undergraduate, graduate studies and research‐based training, which is the heart of this venture, is often justified by claiming kinship with ‘the Anglo‐Saxon model’ of study programmes or, rather more precise though by the same token more inaccurate, with ‘the American model’ of the same (van der Wende 1999).

With typical irreverence, this first move along the legislative trail was dubbed the GERBil – an acronym that stood for the Great Educational Reform Bill. At the same time, the nickname also expressed a certain appreciation amongst the wags in British academia of the Bill’s contents through associating them with the small rodent‐like creature – the gerbil – that inhabits the more arid parts of the North African desert. The GERbil was interesting in two regards. It was the first time in British education policy that a legislative form similar to the European concept of a Framework Law (Loi d’Orientation, Rahmengesetz) was introduced, with the possibility that more detailed legislation could be added later as the then Department of Education and Science deemed appropriate. Second, it touched upon higher education by abolishing tenure for those members of academic staff who, though already possessing it, were so incautious as to leave for another post. Thus, the principle of dismissal for economic reasons as opposed to the more traditional ‘gross and persistent moral turpitude’ was one of the many changes the Thatcher regime imposed on Britain’s academic profession.