ABSTRACT
The British system of higher education is highly diversified: though more uniform than the American system, it is certainly much less uniform than most European systems. There have been several calls recently for greater diversification still. Much of the diversity in the British higher education system seems better adapted to the serendipity than to the individual-need and social-need functions discussed. An evaluation of how well adapted our diversified system is to the other two functions might provide a firmer rationale on which policy could be based. There are the colleges of education, which have recently started—under the auspices of the university institutes of education to which they are attached—to offer courses leading to a bed degree. There are the technical colleges (i.e., the polytechnics and other institutions of further education), most of which also come under the direct control of local education authorities.
