ABSTRACT
This chapter considers higher education (HE) policymaking from the government’s perspective, including the formal and informal powers of ministers, the role of the civil service, and observations on the interaction of government with the HE sector. It focuses on the departmental level, considering what can be achieved by a Minister of State, or Secretary of State, taking into account the relationship with other parts of government and the sector’s regulators, and how the distinct nature of the HE sector both imposes constraints and provides opportunities for realising ministerial ambitions. Compared to many other areas of the Department for Education’s remit, the government’s ability to intervene directly in the HE sector is extremely constrained. More than many sectors, HE is marked by a degree of co-regulation, with sector-owned agencies taking on roles that elsewhere would be played by government bodies. In HE, the majority of researchers on the subject will, as academics, be part of the system they are studying.
