[Trow]American Perspectives on British Higher Educ

AmericanPerspectivesonBritishHigherEducationunderThatcherandMajorAuthor(s):MartinTrowSource:OxfordReviewofEducation,Vol.24,No.1,ThroughtheRevolutionandouttheOtherSide(Mar.,1998),pp.111-129Publishedby:Taylor&Francis,Ltd.StableURL::27/03/200909:58YouruseoftheJSTORarchiveindicatesyouracceptanceofJSTOR'sTermsandConditionsofUse,availableat://=taylorfrancis.EachcopyofanypartofaJSTORtransmissionmustcontainthesamecopyrightnoticethatappearsonthescreenorprintedpageofsuchtransmission.JSTORisanot-for-profitorganizationfoundedin1995tobuildtrusteddigitalarchivesforscholarship.Weworkwiththescholarlycommunitytopreservetheirworkandthematerialstheyrelyupon,andtobuildacommonresearchplatformthatpromotesthediscoveryanduseoftheseresources.FormoreinformationaboutJSTOR,[e-mail]&Francis,Ltd.iscollaboratingwithJSTORtodigitize,preserveandextendaccesstoOxfordReviewofEducation.[1].ItsmajorcompetitorsinEuropewerealreadyundergoingmassiveexpansionsoftheirsystems,andhadreached15%ormoreoftheagegradeinuniversities[2].Itwasfacedwithasetofproblemsanddilemmas0305-4985/98/010111-19?1998CarfaxPublishingLtd112OxfordReviewofEducationthatwerefacingallBritishgovernments,astheywereallwesternEuropeangovern-mentsoftheday.Whatwerethosedilemmas,andhowhavetheTorygovernments-theThatcher/Majorgovernments-overthenext18yearsrespondedtotheproblemsthattheyposed?Thedilemmastheyinheritedaroseoutoffourpotentiallyconflictinggoalsforhighereducation.ThesegoalswereheldbydifferentfactionswithintheConservativeGovern-ment.Someorallmembersofthenewgovernmentpursued:(1)Growthofpost-secondaryenrollmentsinresponsetogrowingnumbersofqualifiedstudentsandtheexamplesofotherEuropeannations.(2)Lowerpercapitacoststothepublicpurse(theunitofresource,asitwascalled)thanhadcharacterisedtheeliteuniversitiesuptothemid-1970s.(3)Thepreservationofacademic'quality'asenrollmentsgrew.(4)Greaterequalityofopportunitiestoattenduniversity[3].Putbriefly,thegovernmentwasfacedwiththeproblemofcreatingasystemofmasshighereducationoutofthevarietyofuniversitiesandnon-universityinstitutionsinplace.ThecentralquestionwaswhetheritwouldrespondbyincreasingthediversityofBritishhighereducation,withdifferentsegmentshavingdifferentmissionsandstylesofinstruction,differentkindsofteach