Change and Continuity in Higher Education

Abstract

Since 1987, British higher education has substantially expanded and experienced major changes in funding and structure. The former is now the responsibility of the Department of Education and Science, and what had been separate systems of universities and polytechnics have been joined to a unitary university system. But these external changes have not been matched by appropriate internal changes of values, purpose, and activity. As a result, Briatin now has a system which has become mass in its size and structure but which remains elite in its values. The author discusses these matters and describes a number of possible scenarios for the future.