ABSTRACT
Crisis is often used to describe the state of education, and other social institutions. If education is so redefined, then privatisation of the service is an obvious step in a capitalist, free market economy, the only decision that the state has to make being how much support to give it. Consideration of the educational crisis has focused on issues of quantity, quality and their inter-relationships. Arguments favouring education for economic development have rested on the relationship between the quantity of people with given levels of qualifications and national and comparative indicators of economic growth. The most dramatic effect of the change in discourse is that education is becoming specifically designated as a commodity. The introduction of a Higher Education Contribution Scheme in 1989 is supposedly a system which, since repayments are not required until post-graduation income reaches certain levels, does not keep poorer students out.
