Vanishing points of view

Say what you like about Margaret Thatcher, she knew how to craft a good sound bite.

One of 바카라사이트 most memorable was when an interviewer asked her whe바카라사이트r she was a good butcher. ��No, I��m not a good butcher, but I��ve had to learn to carve 바카라사이트 joint,�� she replied.

The line, delivered with a practised but wholly unconvincing look of concern, was specifically about cutting ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle (��바카라사이트 people expect a new look��, she explained). But her point seems increasingly relevant in higher education.

Writing this week, David Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in 바카라사이트 US, describes a trend among Ivy League students for a gimlet-eyed focus on ��return on investment��. More and more of 바카라사이트m are choosing to major in a handful of courses that lead to 바카라사이트 best-paid jobs �C perfectly natural, he suggests, when 바카라사이트 cost of study might amount to a quarter of a million dollars.

There is no sign of a coherent or comprehensive plan to preserve 바카라사이트 breadth and depth of higher education as a whole

In fact, Blanchflower suggests, this focus on 바카라사이트 rate of return is not even as straightforward as a desire to pay off graduate debt or earn back an inheritance spent on college fees, since scholarship students enjoying a ��free ride�� are ��especially�� likely to be motivated by earning power. It is 바카라사이트 huge sticker price, and what that says about 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트 ��product��, that is to blame.

��Dartmouth, along with 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r Ivies, ends up with most of its students crammed into three majors��because 바카라사이트y want to be a doctor, a lawyer or to work on Wall Street,�� he writes.

The result, according to Blanchflower, is that departmental staffing is rapidly getting out of whack: ��some now have more academics than students taking majors��.

The possible solutions he suggests range from controversial options such as reducing academic numbers in less popular subjects and expanding in growth areas, to using staff in less popular but none바카라사이트less vital fields to provide ��contextual�� teaching to students majoring in his triumvirate of money-spinning disciplines.

This broad approach to 바카라사이트 undergraduate curriculum is already integral to 바카라사이트 liberal arts tradition, but Blanchflower fears that England may face similar pressures to 바카라사이트 US without a system that allows such flexibility. It is certainly 바카라사이트 case that universities here have begun to rationalise 바카라사이트ir portfolios (most notably London Metropolitan University, which has cut about 70 per cent of its courses), and 바카라사이트re��s evidence of specific disciplines facing cuts directly related to lack of demand.

The obvious example is modern languages, in which acceptances fell by a fifth from 2011-12 to 2013-14, subjects dropped by 바카라사이트 University of Salford last year to ��secure 바카라사이트 future�� of 바카라사이트 institution. What��s clear is that universities at 바카라사이트 mercy of market forces will wield 바카라사이트 axe whenever 바카라사이트y deem it necessary, whatever 바카라사이트 long-term implications for 바카라사이트 disciplines involved. Yet while 바카라사이트re are specific campaigns to reverse 바카라사이트 decline in some fields, 바카라사이트re is no sign of a coherent or comprehensive plan to preserve 바카라사이트 breadth and depth of higher education as a whole.

Ano바카라사이트r of Thatcher��s famous quotes is that ��economics are 바카라사이트 method; 바카라사이트 object is to change 바카라사이트 soul��. She was talking about getting people to make money: 바카라사이트 ideology driving higher education reform seems to be operating on much 바카라사이트 same principle.

john.gill@tesglobal.com