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The Restructuring of Higher Education in Economics
Author(s) -
Ayres Ron
Publication year - 1994
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/j.1468-2273.1994.tb01640.x
Subject(s) - restructuring , excellence , rationalization (economics) , higher education , context (archaeology) , educational research , rationalisation , political science , schools of economic thought , sociology , accounting , public administration , public relations , economics , economic growth , management , pedagogy , finance , paleontology , geometry , mathematics , neoclassical economics , law , biology
The changing structure of higher education in economics is discussed in the context of the dual elements of control exerted through the Universities Funding Council (UFC) research assessment exercises and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recognition exercises. The evidence points to a major restructuring taking place within the old university sector with the majority of economics departments making up a second ‘mixed’ tier while the new universities are primarily but not exclusively ‘teaching’ institutions. On the whole ‘research’ tier departments have achieved overall excellence but there are a few cases where a departments position is based on a specialist niche in the subject. While departmental size is linked to research output there is evidence of research excellence throughout the Higher Education (HE) sector and the paper argues against a severe rationalization of research funds. The significance of the changes for course delivery are briefly discussed.