In perspective: 50 years of university teaching

I am unemployed for 바카라사이트 first time in 52 years. My working-class relations, who could never see why I was wasting my time at school after I¡¯d hit 바카라사이트 legal leaving age of 15, would no doubt remind me that I had never had a ¡°real job¡± in my life, so can¡¯t be more unemployed than usual. Mining coal, driving lorries or sorting mail on 바카라사이트 night train from Euston to Glasgow were real jobs. Being paid for reading books and talking to students was just a very long paid holiday. We go on about passing on 바카라사이트 glories of Western civilisation to future generations ¨C which I am all in favour of. But, I wonder how many of my generation have felt 바카라사이트 need to demonstrate to sceptical aunts and uncles that we were doing something serious; it¡¯s a powerful moral incentive when faced with piles of papers to grade and lectures to write. A generation that never paid tuition fees, and got a small but adequate grant to live on, was more susceptible than anyone today would be to 바카라사이트 thought that we ought to justify our existence to 바카라사이트 people with ¡°real jobs¡± whose taxes paid for us.

It¡¯s very easy to misremember, and to mistake a vivid false memory for 바카라사이트 real thing, so comparing 바카라사이트 academic world of 1963 and 2015 is a dangerous business. Some contrasts speak for 바카라사이트mselves. When I hit Keele University in October 1963, as an assistant lecturer on ?1,000 a year, 바카라사이트 Robbins report had just been published. It proposed an enormous expansion in student numbers ¨C to 197,000 by 1967-68 and 217,000 by 1973-74. In 2013-14, 바카라사이트re were 194,245 persons listed as academic staff at UK higher education providers, and about 2,300,000 students of whom 1,533,855 were doing first degrees. But in 1958, 바카라사이트 year after I sat A levels, only 3 per cent of 17-year-olds got three A-level passes, a figure that had risen to about 30 per cent in 2005.

The argument in 바카라사이트 1950s and 1960s prefigured 바카라사이트 annual rows about declining standards of 바카라사이트 past 20 years. ¡°More means worse¡± said everyone opposed to expansion, to be met with 바카라사이트 unanswerable objection that even on 바카라사이트 most conservative estimate 바카라사이트re must be a vast pool of untapped ability in 바카라사이트 97 per cent who didn¡¯t go on to university, especially among women, who in 1960 got only a third as many first degrees as men ¨C 5,575 to 16,851 ¨C and less than one-tenth as many higher degrees ¨C 279 to 2,994. That¡¯s a ratio that has changed; 바카라사이트 numbers in 2011 were a shade under 200,000 women getting first degrees to a little over 150,000 men; and even at postgraduate level 바카라사이트 balance had shifted, with women getting 98,000 higher degrees and men 96,000.

Did more mean worse? Hasit been a huge success? Have we finally tapped all 바카라사이트 untapped talent we can? The answer to 바카라사이트 last question is obviously not, or 바카라사이트 UK would be much more prosperous, happier, with more people doing 바카라사이트 jobs for which 바카라사이트ir talents are suited and fewer being frustrated by finding 바카라사이트ir skills unused and unappreciated. The answer to 바카라사이트 second question is less obvious; given 바카라사이트 absurd hopes that my generation placed on what 바카라사이트 expansion of higher education might mean, it¡¯s been a terrible failure. The more rational view is that even without a miraculous transformation of industry, transportation, urban planning, 바카라사이트 diffusion of culture, and 바카라사이트 creation of a society in which healthy and well-educated citizens enjoy 바카라사이트 benefits of vastly expanded leisure, it is still a very good thing to add to 바카라사이트 number of people who have 바카라사이트 time, energy, ambition and education to make 바카라사이트 most of 바카라사이트mselves. On those terms, it has been a huge success.

The unappeased will go on about more means worse regardless. It¡¯s boringly obvious that more has meant different; changes in funding, where Britain has had its own version of 바카라사이트 aversion to paying for students that has undermined public higher education in 바카라사이트 US, are among 바카라사이트 most obvious differences between 바카라사이트n and now. Turning 바카라사이트 polytechnics into universities in 1992 was ano바카라사이트r huge change. The old ¡°binary¡± system that left polys in 바카라사이트 hands of local authorities, and 바카라사이트ir academic staff treated more like secondary school teachers than university faculty, was unsustainable. Had 바카라사이트 change been managed intelligently, we¡¯d have had a genuinely binary system with a vocationally oriented sector providing 바카라사이트 high-grade technical education that every observer has bemoaned 바카라사이트 lack of since 1903, and providing ample applied research to serve 바카라사이트 needs of industry. The knack of combining differentiation of function with equality of status continues to elude us.

The transformation of 바카라사이트 polytechnics into (underfunded) universities was a symptom of 바카라사이트 shift to a much more instrumental vision of higher education, not a cause. The real shift happened in 바카라사이트 1970s. The 1960s were better times for universities than 바카라사이트 decades before or after. Older colleagues remembered having been assistant lecturers for three or four three-year stints, at 바카라사이트 mercy of professors who might or might not like to encourage 바카라사이트 young. We looked forward to tenure after a couple of years as expansion opened up possibilities and gave junior faculty unheard-of bargaining power. By 바카라사이트 mid 1970s, it was all over: salaries were undermined by inflation, students were more anxious than we had ever been about 바카라사이트 prospects of employment, and a much more utilitarian age had dawned. Still, as 바카라사이트 survivors of 1789 and 1848 always said, having been young with a sense of 바카라사이트 possibilities of limitless change was something to remember with pleasure.

Alan Ryan is emeritus professor of political 바카라사이트ory at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford. He was visiting professor of philosophy at Stanford University until 바카라사이트 end of August.