By creating a market for universities, the government has snookered itself

Shortsighted politicians are reaping the consequences of an unsustainable market in higher education that they themselves createdThe government has a problem. Open any newspaper or turn on the news and there are items about the cost of universities and theburden of debt on students, at levels higher than the cost of most of their parents ’ first house.People arecomplaining about universities at a time when the present government thought it had the issue sorted. The creation of a full-blown market for higher education with its own regulator –the Office for Students– heralded by the recentHigher Education and Research Act, is now nearly complete. The theory was that competition amongst the hundred or more existing universities, and a raft of new commercial providers, would hone the system to perfection.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Science policy Higher education Politics UK news Source Type: news