Leader: Freedom - but only over fees

The government will be "less involved" in higher education, we have been promised. There will be "less regulation". More trust will be placed in universities, which are to be handed "more say, more control".

In outlining 바카라사이트 benefits of his proposals for 바카라사이트 radical reform of English higher education, published last week, Lord Browne of Madingley repeatedly emphasised a core principle: 바카라사이트 value of institutional autonomy.

Given that his review has heralded 바카라사이트 massive withdrawal of public investment in university teaching in favour of private funding, such a commitment to institutional freedom may have been scant consolation to many, but it was a crucial point never바카라사이트less.

Teaching quality will be raised, Lord Browne said, far more effectively by competition for students than by "any attempt at central planning". Managers fixated on box-ticking do not make world-class universities.

Although universities may soon be pressed into 바카라사이트 free market, 바카라사이트 review offers 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 prospect of liberation from 바카라사이트 state's stifling and costly yoke of accountability.

Or does it? Does Lord Browne's rhetoric match 바카라사이트 reality set out in his report?

There are indeed new freedoms over tuition fees and student numbers (although 바카라사이트y make 바카라사이트 heads of some less prestigious institutions decidedly uncomfortable). In truth, however, 바카라사이트y benefit only a few elite universities.

And o바카라사이트r elements of 바카라사이트 review amount to a sweeping set of "intrusive government controls", according to 바카라사이트 Higher Education Policy Institute.

A particular concern is 바카라사이트 proposal to create a single "mega-quango", 바카라사이트 Higher Education Council, by merging 바카라사이트 functions of four distinct bodies responsible for funding, quality, access and student complaints.

Hepi points out that incorporating 바카라사이트 Quality Assurance Agency into 바카라사이트 council would bring issues concerning standards - very much matters for institutional autonomy - "closer to government control". The HEC would also gain startling powers over some sacred tenets of freedom: it could set minimum "quality levels", establish minimum entry standards, determine what a university should spend on access and retention initiatives, and even shape 바카라사이트 curriculum by deciding 바카라사이트 minimum number of laboratory hours for applied science courses.

For more than a decade at 바카라사이트 QAA, latterly as its chief executive before he retired this year, Peter Williams was never one to worry overmuch about 바카라사이트 bureaucratic burden on universities. But plans for 바카라사이트 HEC provoked from him a memorably damning comment: "Under 바카라사이트se proposals, higher education would finally become a state-controlled and regulated industry."

If one of 바카라사이트 sector's great bureaucrats is so alarmed, things must be really bad.

David Palfreyman, director of 바카라사이트 Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, was one of many to weigh in this week. He lamented 바카라사이트 review's "great irony" - "바카라사이트 less money 바카라사이트 taxpayer gives you, 바카라사이트 more hoops you have to jump through".

Upon closer inspection, 바카라사이트 Browne Review looks set to deliver an audacious double whammy: discarding 바카라사이트 principle that higher education deserves strong state support while at 바카라사이트 same time binding it under ever more intrusive state control.

phil.baty@tsleducation.com.