Retreat or Resolution?: Tackling the Crisis of Mass Higher Education

Description

Peter Scott examines the development of mass higher education and calls for robust action to secure fair access at all levels and changes in the governance and management at both system and institutional levels to ensure more democratic accountability. Although higher education in the UK has expanded opportunities for much of the population, in many ways it remains stubbornly elitist. In order to address this crisis in education, Peter Scott, a leading expert and unique voice, examines the development of mass higher education and proposes a 'radical escape-forward'. He calls for more robust action to secure fair access at all levels and changes in the governance and management at both system and institutional levels to ensure more democratic accountability. Setting out a clear and radical programme for reform, this book makes an important contribution to current debates in education in the context of the evolution of the UK economy and wider society.

Peter Scott is (Emeritus) Professor of Higher Education at the UCL Institute of Education. He has worked as a journalist and an academic and is currently Commissioner for Fair Access for the Scottish Government. Former Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University. Peter Scott was knighted in 2007 for services to education.

"This intricately interwoven but readable record will be essential for future scholarship of higher education. [...] A new vision for learning at all levels must be developed by all involved in the struggle for it. Scott's compendious policy study enlivened with personal memoir and journalistic account makes an invaluable contribution to this task." Council for the Defence of British Universities "[A] new vision for learning at all levels must be developed... Scott's compendious policy study enlivened with personal memoire and journalistic account makes an invaluable contribution to this task." Post-16 Educator "You could read Retreat or Revolution as a history book - a successful and readable one... But for me a short coda is the heart of the book - an exploration of higher education yet to come." Wonkhe