This is a summary of a paper prepared for a conference on the White Paper of 2003, sponsored by The Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley, and OxCHEPS, New College, Oxford, in Oxford, 28-30 September 2004. It offers reflection on the history of the relationship between British higher education and various British governments since…

In the expansion and increasingly vocational orientation of English education, Further Education (FE) colleges have played special roles (as have community colleges in the US). FE colleges are conventionally described as the Cinderella of British education--the overlooked beauty who comes to widespread attention because of her courtship by the…

On both sides of the Atlantic, public higher education faces similar challenges in how to maintain and expand access to high quality tertiary education at an affordable cost to students and their families. These challenges undermine assumptions about the cost of higher education that were based upon conditions prevalent during the generation…

Until recently, higher education institutions (HEIs) had been relatively free to pursue their own individual strategies, on the assumption that their combined effect would add up to a national strategy for higher education. As long as demand outstripped supply, market failures were not an issue. With supply and demand more in balance, the number…

Ever since the first UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was held in the mid-1980s panels of academics have had to make subjective judgements about the quality of work submitted by institutions. In preparation for the 2008 RAE, the four Funding Councils (Higher Education Funding Council for England, Scottish Higher Education Funding Council,…

This paper examines the approach of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to institutional strategy and planning, set out in 2000 in "Strategic Planning in Higher Education: A Guide for Heads of Institutions, Senior Managers and Members of Governing Bodies" ("the Guide"). It considers the general lack of clearly identified and…

The concept of community is deeply embedded in the discourse on higher education. This paper: (1) examines some of the idealistic myths surrounding it; (2) identifies current threats to people's ideas of its meaning; (3) explores how the concept may need to adapt to allow development within a mass higher education system; and (4) considers the…

Attempts are currently being made to create a European Higher Education Area and a European Research Area, which are the two pillars of the so called "knowledge-based society". Since 1998 there has been a flurry of EU initiatives affecting higher education. Out of these, the Bologna Process is probably the most well known. Related to this, there…

What, if any, changes have occurred in the academic structures of UK universities since the early 1990s and the abolition of the binary line? This paper attempts to answer this question and raises issues about the significance of any such changes. There is one useful publication that can provide some insight into the pattern of academic…

This paper is based on the report "Higher Education policy issues and trends: An update on higher education policy issues in 11 Western countries'", 2004.

In addressing the issue of estates strategy, this paper considers the impact of estate on university planning and why it has been underestimated, the implications of institutional missions for estates strategies and ways of making estates strategy integral to university planning. A major theme is the significance of a Higher Education…

Support for Learning is a feature of the learning and teaching strategy for first-year undergraduate students on the Applied Social Studies/Community and Social Studies programme in the Department of Applied Community Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. The programme provides professional education and training in social work, youth…

This paper discusses university finances in European countries which derive from the Humboldtian tradition. Such universities are mainly state funded, are independent academically but dependent financially, and have long histories of keeping the power of the state at bay. The most far-reaching, and arguably intended, consequence of government…

This paper explains the strategic importance of internal communications, and offers a simple model for managing the process of effective internal communications. Discussion includes defining internal communications, strategic importance of internal communications, integrating internal communications strategy as a natural part of everyday working…

As part of the movement to greater social inclusion, a number of initiatives have been created to build bridges between the school and further education sectors and universities. In England, this kind of activity comes under the Partners 4 Progression (P4P) initiative. In Scotland, such initiatives are more regionally based: the thrust of widening…