The Dearing Report (U.K.):
Lifelong Learning, at a Price
Overview
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The Dearing
Report: "Higher Education in the Learning Society,"
Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education,
chaired by Sir Ron (now Lord) Dearing, July 23, 1997, House of Lords
Papers, 1997-98 (The Stationery Office: Aug. 1997) (collection of
reports and recommendations; the central report is 460 pages in
print)
The Kennedy Report: Learning Works, Report of the Further
Education Funding Council's Committee on Widening Participation in
Further Education, chaired by Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, June
1997
Government Green Paper:
"The
Learning Age: A Renaissance for a New Britain" (Feb. 25,
1998) (from the Introduction: "We are in a new age - the
age of information and of global competition. Familiar certainties
and old ways of doing things are disappearing. The types of jobs we
do have changed as have the industries in which we work and the
skills they need. At the same time, new opportunities are opening up
as we see the potential of new technologies to change our lives for
the better. We have no choice but to prepare for this new age in
which the key to success will be the continuous education and
development of the human mind and imagination.")
David Blunkett, Education and Employment Secretary,
"The
Tough Truths of Dearing" (the government position as
expressed on July 24, 1997, in The Times)
Roger Harris (Middlesex U.),
"Dearing
Boring: The Massification of Higher Education" (1998) ("What
of the consequences for academics of a mass market in [higher
education] as a middle-class consumer product? No one is in any
doubt of the relative market positions of UK universities once
deregulation is allowed; and the USA provides a clear indication of
where we are headed"; concludes with thoughts about the current
nature of "knowledge") (Radical Philosophy)
The Times (suite of articles published on July 24, 1997,
on Dearing; each article includes menu for all the others)
Selected Articles:
"Price
of Knowledge" ("If universities aspire to
increased resources then they should be obliged to provide
better value for them. That was the central and much needed
message offered [by Dearing]. The inevitable interest in the
question of student finance has pushed to the margins many other
important aspects of Sir Ron's report.")
Alan Ryan (Oxford U.),
"The
American Way" (1999) ("The British university system
is in a mess. To combine successfully mass higher education with
elite excellence, it must follow the decentralised US model. It must
introduce differentiated tuition fees, allow a mixture of public and
private funding, and give up the pretence of uniform standards")
(Prospect)
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