The Thatcher government's attack on higher education in historical perspective

New Left Review

Volumn , Issue 227, 1998, Pages 3-32

  Ryan, Desmond ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0032350003     PISSN: 00286060     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (72)

1. P.J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins, British Imperialism: Crisis and Deconstruction 1914-1990, Harlow 1993, pp. 275-91.
2. The fact that its emergence caused an earthquake in terms of the rights to social esteem and to symbolic territory claimed by different social classes was signalled by 'The Sixties', 'Swinging London' and so forth.
3. Michael Power, The Audit Explosion, London 1994; Michael Power, The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification, Oxford 1997.
4. Michael Power, The Audit Explosion, London 1994; Michael Power, The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification, Oxford 1997.
5. Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures: or, an Exposition of the Scientific, Moral and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great Britain, third edition London 1861, pp. 18-19. The first edition was published in 1835.
6. Ibid., pp. 346-7. See also Michael Sanderson, 'Education and the Factory in Industrial Lancashire 1780-1840', Economic History Review, second series, no. 20, 1967, p. 269.
7. Ibid., pp. 346-7. See also Michael Sanderson, 'Education and the Factory in Industrial Lancashire 1780-1840', Economic History Review, second series, no. 20, 1967, p. 269.
8. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 348.
9. 'The constant aim and effect of scientific improvement in manufactures are philanthropic . . . At every step of each manufacturing process described in this volume the humanity of science will be manifest.' Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 8.
10. Ibid., p. 349.
11. Ibid., pp. 15, 17.
12. Ibid., p. 13.
13. 'But while [the man] thus contributes more effectively to the accumulation of national wealth, he becomes himself more and more degraded as a rational being. In proportion as his sphere of action is narrowed, his mental power and habits become contracted; and he resembles a subordinate part of some powerful machinery, useful in its place, but insignificant and worthless out of it.' Edward Copleston, A Reply to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review Against Oxford, Oxford 1810, pp. 107-8.
14. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 20.
15. Ibid., pp. 22-3.
16. Ibid., p. 23.
17. Ibid., pp. 23-5.
18. Ibid., p. v.
19. J. Mokyr, 'Was There a British Industrial Evolution?' Research in Economic History, Supplement 6, Greenwich, CN 1991, pp. 253-86.
20. There are three important facts about Joseph which are relevant here: 1) he represented a constituency in a long-declining industrial city, Leeds; 2) he had previously been the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry but was judged less than successful and was moved; 3) he was at the Department of Education and Science for a uniquely long time in recent historical terms. After his departure, the terms 'industry' and 'manufacturing' could be found uncoupled, but by that time the political pay-off of his attack was evident, more than compensating for its failure to have any economic effects.
21. 'Car Magnate Bemoans Lack of Interest in Industry', Times Higher Education Supplement, 16 January 1987.
22. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 6. Ure gives (pp. 4-5) the figure employed in manufacturing in 1831 as 'upwards of one eighth of the population of this island . . . and probably not more than one sixteenth in agriculture'. This is within i per cent of the proportion of the population employed in industry in 1983; nearly four million jobs were lost in industry in the period 1961-83. J.R. Hough, Education and the National Economy, London 1987, pp. 4-5.
23. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 6. Ure gives (pp. 4-5) the figure employed in manufacturing in 1831 as 'upwards of one eighth of the population of this island . . . and probably not more than one sixteenth in agriculture'. This is within i per cent of the proportion of the population employed in industry in 1983; nearly four million jobs were lost in industry in the period 1961-83. J.R. Hough, Education and the National Economy, London 1987, pp. 4-5.
24. Official Report, fifth series, Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, Vol. 369, 31 March 1976, coll. 1193-4.
25. Ibid., coll. 1197-8.
26. Ibid., coll. 1217.
27. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 59.
28. Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, coll. 1198-9.
29. Michael Sanderson, The Universities and British Industry 1850-1970, London 1972, p. 9.
30. J. Wrigley, 'Technical Education and Industry in the Nineteenth Century' in B. Erlbaum and W. Lazonick, eds, The Decline of the British Economy, Oxford 1986, p. 164, quoting M. Gowing, 'Science, Technology and Education: England in 1870', The Wilkins Lecture, Notes and Records of The Royal Society of London, vol. 32, 1977, p. 82.
31. J. Wrigley, 'Technical Education and Industry in the Nineteenth Century' in B. Erlbaum and W. Lazonick, eds, The Decline of the British Economy, Oxford 1986, p. 164, quoting M. Gowing, 'Science, Technology and Education: England in 1870', The Wilkins Lecture, Notes and Records of The Royal Society of London, vol. 32, 1977, p. 82.
32. Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 31 March 1976, col. 1121.
33. W. Waldegrave, Speech at Westfield College, University of London, 17 November 1982; Discussion Paper 12, University of Exeter Teaching Services, 1982, p. 2 (my emphasis).
34. W. Waldegrave, Speech at Westfield College, University of London, 17 November 1982; Discussion Paper 12, University of Exeter Teaching Services, 1982, p. 2 (my emphasis).
35. M. Crozier, S.P. Huntington, and J. Watanuki, The Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission, New York 1975.
36. Waldegrave, Speech at Westfield College, pp. 3-4 (my emphases).
37. Ibid., p. 5 (my emphases).
38. Compare the statement: 'British universities have served their country well in peace and war during the last half century. Alas, industry, or the financial houses, have failed or been unwilling to exploit the products of academia, whether people or ideas, and have permitted our rivals to do so. I find it especially galling when persons who should know better, but are evidently unaware of the facts, assert that universities are the haven of an "anti-industrial culture". My own experience is that for the last half century sectors of UK industry, through choice or ignorance, were anti-research and anti-graduate employees.' Lord Dainton, Times Higher Education Supplement, 16 January 1987.
39. Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 31 March 1976, coll. 1194-6.
40. 'British Research '"Too Segregated"', Times Higher Education Supplement, 14 September 1984. The best reason for not acknowledging this fact was that often, as Lord Bowden had observed, a majority of such students were from her industrial rivals, learning the science of industries they had already captured on the basis of labour costs. Not the least of the advantages of late developing economies is not having to disentangle themselves from delusions about the superiority of knowledge generated in 'the real world'.
41. 'Criticism of UK management styles does not stop at research and development. Only the very major firms or those in high tech have ongoing training programmes for their staffs. In a recent Times article, Secretary of State for Employment Mr Tom King noted that "British companies spent on average only 0.15 per cent of turnover on training last years - so little that it hardly shows up on the balance sheet. That is one-seventh of the American figure and one fourteenth of the best in West Germany."' Edward G. Coll, 'A Road Map with no Signposts to Profit', Times Higher Education Supplement, 26 July 1985.
42. 'Warning on Trained Obsolescence', Times Higher Education Supplement, 27 September 1985.
43. At 'a gathering of academics, university officers and industrialists, attended by Sir Keith Joseph' at Mr Toy's old college, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, 'there were murmurs of cynicism both from academia and industry, with representatives from both sides complaining that the Government was not providing incentives for them to forge stronger links'. 'Joseph Pleads for "Healthy Enterprise"', Times Higher Education Supplement, 27 September 1985.
44. "Tough Guys" Stamp on Company Training', Times Higher Education Supplement, 21 November 1986.
45. 'Get Back to Basics says MD', Times Higher Education Supplement, 17 September 1986.
46. 'British Research "Too Segregated"'
47. 'Avoid Stripey Toothpaste Philosophy', Times Higher Education Supplement, 28 November 1986.
48. Edward G. Coll, 'A Road Map with no Signposts to Profit', Times Higher Education Supplement, 26 July 1985.
49. However, the fact that exactly similar demands were being imposed on the Health Service at the same time in consequence of the first report of Sir Roy Griffiths (Department of Health and Social Security, NHS Management Inquiry, London, 1983) makes it difficult to suppose the Jarratt conclusions were reached without government prompting. '[In Cox's case study] it was very evident that the difference between administration and management was a key issue amongst those implementing Griffiths . . . Whereas administration was seen as servicing the needs of the professionals . . . general management was a matter of taking overall responsibility for the delivery of a service . . . [and] involved planning, setting targets, managing implementation and monitoring performance against pre-set criteria.' D. Cox, 'Health Service Management - a Sociological View: Griffiths and the Non-Negotiated Order of the Hospital', in J. Gabe, M. Calnan, and M. Bury, eds, The Sociology of the Health Service, London 1991, p. 94.
50. James Walsh, Registrar, University of Leeds, 'Brains Above All', Times Higher Education Supplement, (DATE). See also Lady Warnock at the 1985 Conference of the Confederation of British Industries: 'Lady Warnock said it was astonishing that education was being urged nowadays to become more like business when everybody knew that British industry was in a parlous state. Our universities were recognized, however, as extremely efficient compared with others in the rest of Europe.' 'Grudging Praise from Sir Keith on Efficiency', Times Higher Education Supplement, 22 November 1985.
51. James Walsh, Registrar, University of Leeds, 'Brains Above All', Times Higher Education Supplement, (DATE). See also Lady Warnock at the 1985 Conference of the Confederation of British Industries: 'Lady Warnock said it was astonishing that education was being urged nowadays to become more like business when everybody knew that British industry was in a parlous state. Our universities were recognized, however, as extremely efficient compared with others in the rest of Europe.' 'Grudging Praise from Sir Keith on Efficiency', Times Higher Education Supplement, 22 November 1985.
52. Roderick Martin, Professor of Industrial Sociology, Imperial College, London, Times Higher Education Supplement, 19 April 1985.
53. Times Higher Education Supplement, 20 September 1985. Our first-year management science student would identify these as the views of the Scientific Management theorists, some of whose prescriptions were current long enough ago to have convinced Lenin. See also A. Bryman, Leadership and Organizations London 1986, p. 169. See also: 'In management we are learning that the type of organization, and the sort of people we employ in particular parts of it, have to be contingent upon - depend on - the task to be accomplished. This in turn means a willingness to allow, and indeed encourage, variety.' Thomas Kempner, Principal of Henley, The Management College, 'Playing the University Game', Times Higher Education Supplement, 4 May 1984.
54. Times Higher Education Supplement, 20 September 1985. Our first-year management science student would identify these as the views of the Scientific Management theorists, some of whose prescriptions were current long enough ago to have convinced Lenin. See also A. Bryman, Leadership and Organizations London 1986, p. 169. See also: 'In management we are learning that the type of organization, and the sort of people we employ in particular parts of it, have to be contingent upon - depend on - the task to be accomplished. This in turn means a willingness to allow, and indeed encourage, variety.' Thomas Kempner, Principal of Henley, The Management College, 'Playing the University Game', Times Higher Education Supplement, 4 May 1984.
55. B.R. Clark, The Higher Education System: Academic Organization in Cross-National Perspective, London 1983.
56. T. Burns and G.M. Stalker, The Management of Innovation, London 1961, p. 125.
57. Times Higher Education Supplement, 20 September 1985 (my emphasis).
58. Aubrey Jones, Britain's Economy: The Roots of Stagnation, Cambridge 1985, p. 140.
59. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 107.
60. 'Rationalization, whatever its merits, is hardly facilitated by having in separate hands decisions about resources, need, and academic quality'. William Taylor, Times Higher Education Supplement, 20 March 1981.
61. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 13.
62. Robin Marris, 'The Great British University Miracle', Times Higher Education Supplement, 6 April 1984; 'Higher Education and the Mixed Economy: The Concept of Competition', Studies in Higher Education, vol. 11, no. 2, 1986, pp. 131-54.
63. Robin Marris, 'The Great British University Miracle', Times Higher Education Supplement, 6 April 1984; 'Higher Education and the Mixed Economy: The Concept of Competition', Studies in Higher Education, vol. 11, no. 2, 1986, pp. 131-54.
64. Marris, personal communication, 1993.
65. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, pp. 18-9.
66. Marris, 'The Great British University Miracle'.
67. 'The present is distinguished from every preceding age by an universal ardour in arts and manufactures. Nations, convinced at length that war is always a losing game, have converted their swords and muskets into factory implements, and now contend with each other in the bloodless but still formidable strife of trade. Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. v.
68. Marris, 'The Great British University Miracle'. See also Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, pp. 5-6.
69. Marris, 'The Great British University Miracle'. See also Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, pp. 5-6.
70. D. Read, Peel and the Victorians, Oxford 1987, p. 169.
71. The Economist, 4 October 1997.
72. Power, The Audit Society.