New University Extension Movement: A Contributor To The Modernization Of British Higher Education

This paper is intended to study the contribution of the New University Extension Movement in the 19th century to the modernization of British higher education. The 19th century is a time when Britain witnessed great events and changes in various fields. In the field of education, New University Extension Movement has attracted many scholars to study it from different perspectives. While the scholars pay much attention to the New University Extension Movement, they were divided in the contribution of it to British higher education. Some scholars thought that the New University Extension Movement made significant contribution to the modernization of British higher education. There are some others, however, who argued that the New University Extension Movement did not contribute to the modernization of the higher education in Britain. In China, this issue of New University Extension Movement has not attracted much attention. How should the New University Extension Movement be evaluated? Did it make great contributions to the modernization of British higher education or did it not? Through her study, the present writer comes to conclude that the New Universities Extension Movement made great contributions to the modernization of British which are reflected on the following three aspects:Firstly, the New University Extension Movement made great contributions to the modernization of British higher education because it accelerated the popularization of British higher education. The traditional British universities, Oxford and Cambridge, set many injustice limitations in matriculation so that only a tiny segment of students had the opportunities to accept higher education. The new universities established during that period broke the tradition of upper class, Anglican and male dominated higher learning and opened the door of university to all citizens regardless of their social backgrounds.Secondly, the New University Extension Movement made great contributions to the modernization of British higher education because it promoted the transformation of the functions of British university. Oxbridge was still a long way from coming to terms with the modern world and thus realizing its full potential in society in the long history before the 19th century. New universities challenged the traditional notion that education was the servant of religion, but advocated serving the secular society. What's more, they broadened the function of universities from solely concerned with the preservation and transmission of accepted knowledge to involving in the discovery and advancement of new knowledge as well.Third, the New University Extension Movement made great contributions to the modernization of British higher education because it and broadened the curriculum of British higher learning. In England, the two traditional universities, Oxford and Cambridge, tenaciously clung to classical humanism which stressed on the moral and cultural formation of the gentleman for many centuries. In contrast, New universities broadened the curriculum of higher learning by enriching the curriculum of higher learning from solely classical humanity to a more multifaceted one: integrating humanism education with scientific education together.To sum up, the New University Extension Movement contributed enormously to the modernization of British higher education on many aspects. Since then, the British higher education became more modernized.