Marketisation in Higher Education, Clark's Triangle and the Essential Ingredients of Markets

Abstract While government intervention in the higher education market may be justified, it may come at the cost of lower consumer sovereignty and restricted producer autonomy. Through marketisation policy, students and higher education providers have more room to make their own trade‐offs and interact more closely on the basis of reliable information. This article discusses eight conditions for a market and the extent to which these are met in Dutch higher education. It is argued that there is still a key role for the government to co‐design framework conditions and facilitate interaction in a more demand‐driven and liberalised higher education sector.