Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains about the governance challenges facing higher education institutions around the world and the new directions being taken. It addresses responses to the different challenges found each in their own context and discusses the future without falling under the spell of a search for a common narrative or a universal sense of what represents ‘good’ governance. The chapter presents located voices, without laying over them any normative judgements about what is good. It focuses on England, partly because it is the editors’ home country, but also because an unusual and radical experiment in marketisation, competition and consumerism is being conducted. The political experiment deserves critical attention from those who can be neutral international observers of the consequences of it for the government, higher education providers and students in relation to cost, quality and societal impact.