The Power Of The System: An Analysis Of The Changes In British Higher Education In The 1990s

After the Second World war,the UK’s national status and national economic strength went into an overall decline in the world competition pattern.UK’s overall level of higher education participation has lagged behind that of the United States and the European Union,the development of British higher education is also in a long period of the pattern of binary differentiation between elite higher education and higher professional technology education.The1990 s were the UK’s last preparation for the challenges of the new century.With the rapid development of science and technology and the acceleration of capital flow,the trend of economic globalization has made knowledge,technology and capital become the core elements affecting international competition.In order to achieve efficient economic growth and industrial upgrading,improve the overall quality of the British people and the overall national strength,the development of higher education is placed at the core of the revitalization of national economic and technological strength.The British government strongly requires to improve the social participation rate of higher education,optimize the social class structure of higher education,reform the closed and conservative higher education system,and improve the overall development quality of higher education.In the late 20 th century,many changes in politics,economy,culture and other fields in the UK had significant influences on promoting the institutional reform of higher education and expanding the scale of higher education participation in the UK.The 1990 s is the key period for the UK to realize the universalness of higher education in the international competition of higher education.The main method for the change of the British higher education system was to set up a new institutional framework by formulating the higher education policy as the guidance by the government on the basis of professional research,and making the higher education law by the British parliament as the highest authority.To change the traditional "binary" separation of elite higher education system and the local higher professional education system is the primary goal of breaking through the institutional barriers to the universal development of higher education in the UK.The British higher education institutional reform was mainly reflected in the following aspects: establishing an equal and unified higher education system;innovating the management mechanism of higher education;establishing the higher education quasi-market mechanism with the characteristics of market-oriented financing mode;establishing a funding system that combines state public funds allocation with higher education quality supervision;reforming the higher education fee system and student financial aid system.In addition,the pressure from the transformation of social economy and the market-oriented reform of higher education has accelerated the implementation of proactivereforms in organization and management,talent training and scientific research in British universities,which were oriented by market demand and national policies.In the highly competitive higher education market,the quality of teaching and research,the characteristics and reputation of a university and its ability to communicate with others have become important factors for the success of a university.In the 1990 s,the institutional change of higher education in the UK created a new institutional environment for the development of modern higher education in the UK in the 21 st century,and formed the "top-down" reform mode of higher education led by the government.The market-involved fair competition mechanism of higher education has revived the vitality of the development of higher education in the UK,the diversified development pattern of higher education under the unitary system has been formally formed,and the reform of higher education in the UK has highlighted the institutional advantage of combining political force with market force.With the marketization and internationalization of higher education in the UK,the reform of internal organization management and decision-making system of British universities strengthened the response to the external world,which made the organization management of universities became more efficient and university administrators became more professional.Universities have established a closer relationship with the social market in terms of enrollment,curriculum instruction and scientific research.With the innovation of information technology and the upgrading of economic industry,the way of talent cultivation and scientific research in universities is realizing technical changes,and British higher education education is further developing towards the direction of pragmatism.