Mass Higher Education and the Elitist Tradition

Abstract

In June 1975, the Center for European Studies of the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, sponsored a conference on "The Contemporary European University: Mass Higher Education and the Elitist Tradition." Four of the papers presented at this conference are published in this special issue of Western European Education. The papers by Professors Brown and Perkin analyze critical developments in French and British higher education, respectively. Dr. Teichler's study examines some of the problems that the evolution toward mass higher education has brought to universities in the Federal Republic of Germany. Professor Wasser reflects upon the principal issues that emerge from a comparison of the European and American experiences in mass higher education. Finally, Professor Fomerand's paper, which was not prepared for the conference, but which is closely related to its theme, studies the Open University as an example of the "Politics of Innovation" in Great Britain.