A Study Of The US Influences Upon UK Higher Education Since The Second World War

The cross-national influence of higher education is an eternal theme in developing higher education, but it has different performances either in different countries or during different historical periods. This study focus on the influences upon UK higher education by United States since the World Warâ…¡, based mainly on the chronological order, to discuss the impacts, reforms and contexts in detail, with research methods including historical literatures and descriptions, comparison, factor analysis and so on. It explores the idea transfer and policy borrowing of UK higher education from the United States by a macro perspective, through which to find out the regularity and specificity of the cross-national effects throughout the reforms of higher education.The Introduction section sets out the contexts and significance of this study, with a brief screen and analysis of relevant researches both at home and abroad, defining such core concept as influence, idea transfer and Americanization and pointing out the basic idea and primary methods of this research.Chapter I outlines the cross-national impacts of higher education and the common origin of Anglo-American education. Intrinsic logic of this chapter lies in the "historical origin". Combing of the both aspects and analyzing the influence factors of cross-national influence upon higher education provides a rationale basis for this study.Chapter II to VI discusses the historical evolution of transatlantic influences on the educational ideas and policies of British higher education by the United States, dividing into different stages. During the early postwar period (1945-1956), the UK higher education still had certain doubt on ideas of American civilian higher education and service on the one hand, and had begun to transplant the American science and technology education policies on the other hand, due to the reflection of the UK suffering the wounds of war, with corresponding to the US's intention to implementation of cultural impacts through financial assistance. The period from 1956 to 1967 was the restructuring and expanding phase of British higher education, during which the UK began to respond to American challenges. Meanwhile American higher education theories such as educational democracy, national crisis, and human capital had been spread and accepted in the United Kingdom. The UK turned to the US initiatively to find problem-solving strategies. It "borrowed" policies from the US to expand the scope of higher education, and eventually adopted "dual system" as the unique developmental path. During the years of 1967-1979, thoughts of these American people such as Clark Kerr, Martin Trow, etc. had played an essential role in the conceptual change of UK higher education. The idea of combining industries, study and research in universities of the US revitalized British academic community, which was exhibited in the adjustment of British higher education and the partly reference from the American experiences. New universities, polytechnics and university science parks in UK all indicated the influence of the US and embodied British conventional and realistic characters, different from the archetype of American model. From 1979 to 1992, Britain accepted more influence of the US, bringing about the whole identification of American model and the rapid transition of UK higher education. During this period, British higher education shifted from the conventional academic demension to market model of American-style. Learning from the experiences of diversified funding operation in the US, the UK had sought a new balance in the triangle of government-academia-market and finally eliminated its dual system, which was a clear proof of its trends of Americanization. Since 1992, in the context of post-industrial era, cross-national influence became more convenient. The American influence has penetrated into all aspects of British higher education and inspired the innovation in its reform. The development of Bath University is a typical case of macro influence of America. The transplanting of American associate degree to set foundation degree as new development outlet and developing the education of overseas students as a means to get substantial economic and social benefits are all owned to the American experiences.Chapterâ…¦makes a comprehensive analysis of the complexity of the American influence and builds an integrated model of cross-national influence. It states that the dominant factor of cross-national influence of higher education after the World Warâ…¡has been derived from the academic-oriented primarily to more subjected to political and economic constraints; During the four stages of "cross-national attraction-decision-implementation-internalization/indigenization", external influence should interact mutually and integrate effectively with various factors such as cultural tradition and educational basis.The conclusion part, based on the previous chapters, sums up the main influence on the UK higher education from the US after the war and looks forward to the future trends of the American influence on UK higher education.