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R obbins and His Children: the Theory and Practice of Higher Education Inquiries, 1963–2013
Author(s) -
Watson David
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.12045
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , political science , higher education , term (time) , sociology , psychology , public administration , law , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , linguistics
The fifty‐year history of higher education inquiries following R obbins is analysed through the device of ‘twelve frameworks’ for the funding and organisation of the system, of which R obbins is the first and that of the coalition government (since 2010) the last. Attention is focused on the relative impact of ‘inquiry'‐led frameworks, especially R obbins (reporting in 1963), J ames (in 1972), D earing (in 1997), and B rowne (in 2010), as well as wholly ‘politically’ managed frameworks including B aker‐ C larke (between 1987 and 1992), ‘ B lair’ (2003–2004) and ‘ W illetts‐ C legg’ (2010–2013). Conclusions are drawn about the short and longer‐term impacts of the inquiries, about the potential counter‐factual (what might have happened anyway), with reference to similar exercises in other jurisdictions (the U nited S tates, A ustralia, N ew Z ealand and S outh A frica), and about the relative lack of impact of institutional research, self‐study and self‐knowledge. The author also interpolates some autobiographical reflections.