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UK universities and the state: A Faustian bargain?
Author(s) -
Dickson Tony
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0270.00305
Subject(s) - elitism , prosperity , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , public administration , quality (philosophy) , political science , economics , economic growth , law , linguistics , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , politics , computer science
The universities are now ‘one of the last semi‐nationalised sectors of the British economy, ’ used by government as an instrument of social policy. This situation represents a ‘Faustian bargain ’ which threatens both the quality and the prosperity of universities. One solution would be privatisation of some universities through public flotation. These universities could then contract with government to take state‐funded students. Two objections are that the scheme would promote elitism and that it would encourage greater inequality between universities, but the relevant question is whether it would offer an improvement on the present regime.