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Robbins Remembered and Dismembered, Contextualising the Anniversary
Author(s) -
Ainley Patrick
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
higher education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.976
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1468-2273
pISSN - 0951-5224
DOI - 10.1111/hequ.12038
Subject(s) - period (music) , context (archaeology) , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , higher education , political science , sociology , pedagogy , public administration , law , history , art , aesthetics , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology , algorithm , computer science
This polemical paper was motivated by its author's concern that the U nited K ingdom C oalition higher education minister, W illetts, should claim at recent quinquageniary commemorations of the publication of the 1963 R obbins R eport to be preserving its legacy for higher education. By contrast, this paper argues that the period of reform aimed at changing society through education marked by R obbins has been closed by the C oalition government's acceptance of the 2010 B rowne R eview recommendations. The paper is therefore little concerned with the contents of the report but places it in a wider context ending in the current attempted reversal towards a minority higher education with academic schooling dominant throughout the system. In a still greater reversal, the expansion of state over private provision characteristic of the 50‐year period of reform of education, is also being reversed towards a state‐subsidised privatisation at all levels of learning. In conclusion some alternatives are suggested.