Higher Education in a Competitive Regime: the New British Regime

Resilience is defined as the ability of an organisation to keep or recover its equilibrium in the presence of significant stresses. The resilience of British higher education is continually being tested by systemic challenges, and exposure to increased competition for high fees (which follow student numbers) is one such stress. The issue is discussed in terms of its effect upon recruitment, access, equality, gender balance and subject choice, but above all in terms of the mental health of staff and the survival of institutions. The government has grossly over-estimated the level of fees repayment that will enable money to flow back to its exchequer, and this will have negative consequences for the British economy and for higher education. The resilience concept of “zero trauma” is far from pertaining to the current situation; and many institutions are forced towards an “efficiency thoroughness trade off” in which they are tempted to focus upon extrinsic rather than intrinsic rewards like the pursuit of knowledge.