Americanization and UK higher education: towards a history of transatlantic influence on policy and practice

Abstract

This paper investigates the history of US influence on higher education policy and practice in the UK during the second half of the 20th century. The analysis is located in a broader context of cultural and policy encounters between the two nations during these years and considers the relevance of the contested concept of ‘Americanization’ to understanding the history of transatlantic influence. It argues for an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the UK's orientation towards the US academy and draws on a range of relevant concepts from social science to illustrate the key themes and questions involved. Policy transfer and lesson drawing are considered as conceptual tools with which to identify the often complex and overlapping elements involved in the development of policy. Unpacking these concepts requires detailed historical investigation of who, why and what is involved in policy transfer and needs to be firmly located within the specific nature of educational policy making and politics in the UK. The empirical evidence suggests that the translation of US policy ideas and practices was far from straightforward and was invariably conditioned by a range of structural, cultural and political barriers. The paper concludes that the US exercised an important but ambiguous role in the development of UK higher education policy.