Roger Brown

The Current Brouhaha about Standards in England

ABSTRACT Following a report by a Parliamentary Committee, the Higher Education Funding Council for England is consulting the sector about a strengthened national quality assurance system, with an enhanced role for information about quality and a closer focus on academic standards. This article provides a critical review of the main proposals.

Who Shall Pay for the Public Good? Comparative Trends in the Funding Crisis of Public Higher Education.

Who shall pay for the public good? Comparative trends in the funding crisis of public higher education Yann Lebeau a , Rolf Stumpf b , Roger Brown c , Martha Abrahao Saad Lucchesi d & Marek Kwiek e a University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK b Former Vice Chancellor and Rector, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa c Liverpool Hope University, UK d Permanent Researcher, Center for Public Policy Research, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil e Director, Center for Public Policy Studies, Poznan University, Poznan, Poland

The new English quality assurance régime

England is developing a new quality assurance régime that will come into effect in October 2011. A new funding régime will operate from the following year, together with new rules to ease the participation of private higher education providers. This article describes and analyses the new quality and funding régimes. It argues that the greater competitive and resourcing pressures that will flow from these changes will place severe strains on the new quality régime, to the point where further changes may be unavoidable.

What do we do about university governance

The board/council must ensure that effective risk management, internal control and corporate governance arrangements are safe; must effectively monitor the performance of the institution to ensure its sustainability and viability; must inform HEFCE as soon as possible of adverse changes affecting the institution; must ensure money allocated is used for the purposes intended; must ensure value for that money is achieved; and finally must ensure that audit processes are followed according to the appropriate HEFCE Code (Melville-Ross 2010).

New Labour and higher education: Diversity or hierarchy?

Institute since 1998. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC), Chief Executive of the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics (CDP), Secretary of the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC), and a senior civil servant at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other Departments. His career began with the Inner London Education Authority in 1969. Address for correspondence: Southampton Institute, East Park Terrace, Southampton SO14 0TT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)23 8031 9267; Fax: +44 (0)23 8023 5620; E-mail: roger.brown@solent.ac.uk perspective

Co‐operation or Compliance? The National Committee of Inquiry Proposals on Quality and Standards

Abstract The recently published report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, Higher Education in the Learning Society, is the most wide‐ranging official inquiry into UK higher education since the 1963 Robbins Report (NC1HE, 1997). One of the most important, and radical, sections of the new report is that dealing with quality and standards. The Committees main proposals are summarised and the author comments on their desirability and feasibility. It draws on the authors knowledge and experience as the former Chief Executive of the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC) [1]. [1] This article does not in any way commit or represent the views of the new Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

The future structure of the sector: what price diversity?

Southampton Institute, where he is also Professor of Higher Education Policy, since 1998. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of the Higher Education Quality Council, Chief Executive of the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics, Secretary of the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council, and a senior civil servant at the Department of Trade and Industry and other Departments. He is currently Chair of the Editorial Board of perspectives. Address for correspondence: Southampton Institute, East Park Terrace, Southampton SO14 0TT. Tel: +44 (0)23 8031 9267; Fax: +44 (0)23 8023 5620; Email: roger. brown@ solent.ac.uk perspective

The New Quality Assurance Arrangements in England and Wales

A new national quality assurance agency is about to commence operations. This article looks at the background to the new agency and at its immediate agenda, in which the recommendations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (‘The Dearing Committee’ are likely to bulk large. The article suggests a number of issues which the new agency will need to resolve if it is to prove more durable than its predecessors, the Higher Education Quality Council and the Quality Assessment Divisions of the English and Welsh Higher Education Funding Councils.

Higher education and inequality

ABSTRACT After climate change, rising economic inequality is the greatest challenge facing the advanced Western societies. Higher education has traditionally been seen as a means to greater equality through its role in promoting social mobility. But with increased marketisation higher education now not only reflects the forces making for greater inequality but even exacerbates them. This could be changed but it would require major shifts in higher education policy and practice of which there is currently little sign.

Collaboration and restructuring

He was previously Chief Executive of the Higher Education Quality Council and Chief Executive of the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics, and before that a DTI civil servant. He has lectured and written widely on higher education issues. He is Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Surrey Roehampton, the University of East London, and City University. Address for correspondence: Southampton Institute, East Park Terrace, Southampton SO14 0YN. Tel: +44 (0)23 8031 9216; Fax: +44 (0)23 8023 7627; E-mail: roger.brown@solent.ac.uk perspective