1998 The Dearing Report and the Government’s response: a critique

The central fact of British higher education is the increase in the participation rate from an elite 5 per cent in the early 1960s to a mass 30 per cent by the mid-1990s. Recent expansion has been particularly sharp – from 14 per cent in 1990 – but has occurred without any parallel increase in funding, leading to problems which are both economic and political.