'Will More Mean Worse?': An Inquiry into the Effects of University Expansion

T N PART, educational reform can be seen as a process of enlarging | the intake of students into an existing educational structure. This Xis a partial picture of the process of reform, the other major discussion being the reform of the educational structure itself, its staff, curricula, teaching methods, etc. At the moment in Britain the sphere of educational reform being discussed most frequently is higher education in general and university education in particular. Reforms are being suggested to both the size and numbers of universities and their student populationl on the one hand and the type of teaching and subjects taught on the other.2 The recent appointment of governmental committees to investigate both types of problem is the culmination of a prolonged public discussion that has ranged from the JVew Statesman and Sation to Time magazine.3