Understanding Mass Higher Education

Abstract

In recent years most western democracies have experienced a shift from elite to mass higher education, with the United States leading the way. This text compares the experience of this very important social change within different nation states. Whilst recognising the critical global economic forces that appear to explain the international nature of the change, it sees the issues as rooted within different national traditions. There is a particular focus upon the discourse of access, especially the political discourse. The book addresses questions such as: * How has expansion been explained? * Has expansion been generated by state intervention or by a combination of economic and social forces? * What are the forms of political intervention? * What points of agreement and conflict are generated within the wider society by expanding access? Chapters: 1) The rise of mass higher education 2) Values, discourse and politics: an Australian comparative perspective 3) The politics of access to higher education in France 4) Bildung or Ausbildung? Reorienting German higher education 5) The value of higher education in a mass system: the Italian debate 6) Access to Dutch higher education: policies and trends 7) Access to higher education in the Nordic countries 8) Mass Higher Education in Poland: coping with the 'Spanish Collar' 9) British higher education and the prism of devolution 10) Access to higher eduction in England: who is in control? 11) A transatlantic persuasion: a comparative look at America's path towards access and equity in higher education 12) Conclusion: the reshaping of mass higher education