In recent years there has been a major expansion by higher education institutions in setting up 'for-profit', offshore programmes and campuses. It has been claimed that for-profit provision in a free, or unregulated market, responds to student demand and acts as a catalyst for innovation, thus fuelling arguments for a global 'free market' in higher education. There are few opportunities to test these claims since higher education is overwhelmingly provided within national systems of education and is generally subject to strong local regulation. Israel, in the 1990s, offered a rare case of an unregulated market in higher education for foreign providers, albeit one which contained significant distortions: British institutions took the leading part in developments. This article examines that experience in the light of documentation in the public domain and of practitioner research and argues, contrary to unsubstantiated claims, that provision fell below acceptable standards. The article concludes that, in this field, consumer demand did not operate on the basis of quality and that the market-place cannot assure standards of higher education in overseas provision. Furthermore, until international standards are agreed, governments have a responsibility to regulate provision which directly affects the lives of their citizens.
In the 10 years since 1978 there has been an explosion of courses aimed at widening access to higher education. This paper reviews the development of those courses and the issues surrounding them. In general the courses developed in an ad hoc fashion determined at local level. However as the DES draws access provision into the centre of educational policy that local diversity may be threatened. If DES policy on widening access is to succeed then it will have to move beyond exhortation to face major policy issues such as the reallocation of resources: but if it does this then the initial emphasis of practitioners on directing resources at disadvantaged groups may itself be constrained. A coherent strategy is necessary if the original aims of access provision are to be realised.
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