ABSTRACT
Higher education is a vast topic: so no account of it within a reasonable compass can realistically aim to be encyclopedic. It is also heavily value-laden: so impartiality is an equally unattainable goal. The overview that follows, therefore, is both selective and personal. Its aim is to present the subject in a way that may be of interest to non-specialist readers, avoiding where possible the pervasive jargon and the abundant acronyms which characterise much of the relevant technical literature.
