The article discusses higher education policies and policy making during the period of the author's direct involvement between the mid-80s and the present. The author points to an increasingly ideological form of policy making which has emphasised the economic role of higher education and created a higher education "market". As the…

As the author's contribution to a series marking the Golden Jubilee of the Association of University Administrators, he reflects on changes in quality assurance over the past twenty years and speculates on what the future may hold for quality as the association moves into a new and very different competitive regime. He begins by discussing the…

In a previous paper, this author argued that the present governance arrangements for UK universities and colleges, and in particular the preferred official model for governing bodies, were no longer fit for purpose (if indeed they ever were), and that some fundamental reforms were needed. This paper sets out some reform proposals. The author goes…

There has been a resurgence of interest in good practice in university governance. This may be due to a number of high profile vice-chancellor (and governor) departures, and especially the crisis at London Metropolitan University, where the Vice-Chancellor resigned in March 2009 following overclaimed public funding as a result of inaccurately…

In this paper, the author explores the answers to the following questions: (1) What does the "marketisation" of higher education mean? (2) What are the potential implications for United Kingdom higher education? and (3) How should everyone handle those implications? He also cites the three main reasons why higher education cannot simply be left to…

Future historians may well find as much continuity as change in government policies towards higher education between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s. One exception, however, is likely to be widening participation (WP), which only appeared on the policy agenda after 1997. Moreover, this commitment has been sustained. In this brief survey, the…

League tables have been defined as "weighted combinations of performance indicator scores where the total is used to rank institutions such as schools, universities and hospitals." While publishers of league tables say that their main purpose is to inform students and prospective students, particularly those abroad with limited access to…

This document is a follow-up to a previous article about the future prospects for higher education in the light of the then recently published White Paper. The question was asked at to whether and how far the government would succeed in its avowed intention of creating a more diverse higher education system. This document focuses on the likely…