SKOPE Seminar 1: Higher education and economic development

Working paper

The question of the expansion of higher education has been tackled from different diciplinary perspectives. The sociological angle has tended to be predominant in general discourse but more recently the economic approach has gained ground and it has become increasingly common to see expansion discussed along the lines of individual and social rates of return. This paper examines two interpretations which have resulted from this reflection, namely expansion as an economic necessity and as an inflationary danger. Firstly, the paper identifies the various ways of defining and describing the imprecise notion of the expansion of higher education. Drawing examples from the many reforms initiated in the British higher education sector over the last forty years, it shows how the nature of a response to the 'economic necessity versus hyper-inflation' problem cannot be detached from the details of the question. The economic argument that has been advanced to justify expansion in education, including higher education is then discussed. The intrinsic limitations of the model, both in theory and practice, are highlighted. Particular emphasis is given to the convergence that exists between the economic approach based on human capital and the sociological one based on meritocratic principles. Both have used the social justice argument to justify educational expansion. The sociological assessments of higher educational expansion and its effects are then explored. The debate is shown to have revolved around epistemological polarisations, namely the place and pre-eminence that structure and agency should be given in any understanding of educational expansion. This helps to show that in the case of the expansion of higher education, it is difficult to use the term 'inflation' as antithetical to 'economic necessity' because the two notions relate to different sets of assumptions. The conclusions are that the expansion of higher education as it stands today appears to be a socio-political necessity and a direct operational economic necessity at local and regional levels. As far as the social rate of return to higher education is concerned it is too dependent on the qualitative dimensions of the sector and its environment for any straightforward conclusions to be drawn. Finally, the paper offers other suggstions as to why the worth of the expansion of higher education has been called into question.

Authors: Deer, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE)
• Series: SKOPE Research Paper
• Place of publication: http://www.skope.ox.ac.uk/publications
• Publication date: 2001-01-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• ISSN: 1466-1535
• Paper number: 17, Summer 2001
• Language: English
• Keywords: internationalisation; higher education
• Subjects: Education; Economics