ABSTRACT
The great expansion in student numbers began in the mid-nineteenth century, driven by the gradual rise in prosperity. It was the massive influx in the second half of the twentieth century, however, that led to the exponential growth of the universities that lies at the root of many of today’s problems. It is interesting to examine how this is being tackled, in order to gain a better understanding of the university’s capacity for change. For on the one hand, there are loud calls for a return to fundamental tasks such as teaching, and administrators are being reproached for failing to solve problems properly; and on the other hand, it is questionable whether the university can indeed determine its own course in this respect. Perhaps the external forces are so formidable that the university is largely a plaything of events, and is being forced into unavoidable or even undesirable decisions.
