Reshaping the university: the rise of the regulated market in higher education

The global economic crisis has required governments across the globe to reconsider their spending priorities. It is within this demanding economic context that higher education systems have been steadily restructured with in many ways the English model in the vanguard of change. This book focuses in particular upon the policy of removing almost entirely public support for the payment of student fees. This has emerged from a steady process of change, which has broad political support and is underwritten by the idea that higher education is now seen more as a private than a public, good. As this shift has occurred (not a new innovation but rather a return to what once prevailed as more of a market in English higher education) so the relationship between government and the higher education has evolved with the latter now attempting to steer the development of the system through a state-regulated market. The book has a strong comparative dimension that draws upon US higher education to illustrate both the possible advantages and potential hazards to the marketization strategy. It concludes that any such strategy needs to be accompanied by state regulation if it is to function effectively, particularly to stimulate price competition, encourage innovation from new entrants, and provide consumer protection for students paying high fees.

The governance of British higher education: state, market, and institutional decision-making -- Exploring the unitary model: a diversity of definitions -- The Dearing report: sustaining British higher education as a system -- Universities and markets: (I) Historical background and contemporary context -- Universities and markets: (II) Theory and critical debate -- The student as consumer: legal framework and practical reality -- The rise of the research agenda: redefining the academic mission -- The globalization of higher education: coping with rankings and league tables while delivering more and charging less -- The HE industry: speaking with more than one voice -- Responding to the state-regulated market: higher education institutions under duress -- The descent from acropolis to agora: the entry of the for-profits -- From public good to market-place: from provider state to regulatory state.