- Email: [email protected]
Universities, education and the national economy
102
Book
Universities, Education and the National Economy. Edited by MICHAEL D. STEPHENS.
London: Routledge, (cloth).
1989. XIII + 138 pp. f25
READINGthis book recalled to mind the apocryphal story of St Peter showing a party of visitors around Heaven: on approaching a high wall, he asked the visitors to tiptoe past quietly because on the other side of the wall were the Christians, who believed themselves to be the only people in Heaven. There was a time when universities comprised higher education in the U.K. but some university members do not seem to have woken up to the fact that those days are long gone: numerically speaking, the universities now have the minority share of the higher education sector and in terms of numbers have been outstripped by the polytechnics, and even more so by the polytechnics and colleges combined. It must therefore be somewhat of a surprise that there should now appear a book on the ways in which the universities interact with the national economy, rather than on the ways in which the whole of the higher education sector does so. This book effectively ignores completely the polytechnics and colleges, which claim at least to decline to be ivory towers, to have greater emphasis on sandwich and part-time courses, and to be more closely geared to the needs of the outside world, all of which might have been considered relevant. At a time when the whole of higher education may be said to be under attack, the sector would do better to stand together and defend itself as a whole, rather than there being polemics on behalf of one group of institutions within the much larger higher education sector. The book consists of an edited collection of seven essays by eminent scientists and other univeristy academics, three of them Vice-Chancellors, the first two essays having a general coverage regarding the purpose and mission of universities and the remaining five being subject- or faculty-orientated. After Shinn has given an historical review from the Bologna and Paris of 1300 to the present day (although with rather little on the trend towards greater centralisation over the last decade or so), Sims shows how universities were the subject of considerable criticism by the 1960s and how they tried to respond with a
Reviews number of new initiatives intended to make them more economically - and industrially - relevant just at the time when the funds available to them for research were progressively cut. In many ways the most interesting essays are the second one by Sims, on engineering, and by Cook on the industrial applications of science. Sims shows how diverse the work of engineers has become in recent years and therefore how difficult it is for universities to continue to interact with industry in this field, at a time when many university engineering departments see 50% of their graduates being attracted towards accountancy or other professions. Cook argues strongly that the current increased emphasis on the immediate industrial applications of university research is misplaced, unrealistic, and short-sighted, a much longer time horizon being needed if future graduates are to deal successfully with the quite different problems that will confront them in 10 years time or more. The universities have traditionally maintained that their work, in terms of both teaching and research, is seriously undervalued if their broader contributions to national life are ignored, and Martin forcefully argues precisely this case in respect of the arts and social sciences, although he ends up by saying that the immense resources of the universities in this field remain under-exploited. Taylor and Coupland respectively argue that university departments of education and medicine aid the economy indirectly, Coupland’s being the longest chapter in the book and the only one to include any statistics. Anyone looking for references to rate of return analysis, manpower planning, the screening hypothesis, The Open University (a major omission, surely?), sandwich or parttime courses, or even some general supporting statistics, will not find them in this volume. Nor is there any reference to the career profiles of academic staff in the U.K., who typically spend the whole of their working lives in universities whereas in other comparable countries movements to and from industrial and commercial positions are much more common. Nevertheless, within its limited compass this is a very readable and interesting book, which should give the reader much food for thought. J.R. HOUGH Loughborough University
Book
Universities, Education and the National Economy. Edited by MICHAEL D. STEPHENS.
London: Routledge, (cloth).
1989. XIII + 138 pp. f25
READINGthis book recalled to mind the apocryphal story of St Peter showing a party of visitors around Heaven: on approaching a high wall, he asked the visitors to tiptoe past quietly because on the other side of the wall were the Christians, who believed themselves to be the only people in Heaven. There was a time when universities comprised higher education in the U.K. but some university members do not seem to have woken up to the fact that those days are long gone: numerically speaking, the universities now have the minority share of the higher education sector and in terms of numbers have been outstripped by the polytechnics, and even more so by the polytechnics and colleges combined. It must therefore be somewhat of a surprise that there should now appear a book on the ways in which the universities interact with the national economy, rather than on the ways in which the whole of the higher education sector does so. This book effectively ignores completely the polytechnics and colleges, which claim at least to decline to be ivory towers, to have greater emphasis on sandwich and part-time courses, and to be more closely geared to the needs of the outside world, all of which might have been considered relevant. At a time when the whole of higher education may be said to be under attack, the sector would do better to stand together and defend itself as a whole, rather than there being polemics on behalf of one group of institutions within the much larger higher education sector. The book consists of an edited collection of seven essays by eminent scientists and other univeristy academics, three of them Vice-Chancellors, the first two essays having a general coverage regarding the purpose and mission of universities and the remaining five being subject- or faculty-orientated. After Shinn has given an historical review from the Bologna and Paris of 1300 to the present day (although with rather little on the trend towards greater centralisation over the last decade or so), Sims shows how universities were the subject of considerable criticism by the 1960s and how they tried to respond with a
Reviews number of new initiatives intended to make them more economically - and industrially - relevant just at the time when the funds available to them for research were progressively cut. In many ways the most interesting essays are the second one by Sims, on engineering, and by Cook on the industrial applications of science. Sims shows how diverse the work of engineers has become in recent years and therefore how difficult it is for universities to continue to interact with industry in this field, at a time when many university engineering departments see 50% of their graduates being attracted towards accountancy or other professions. Cook argues strongly that the current increased emphasis on the immediate industrial applications of university research is misplaced, unrealistic, and short-sighted, a much longer time horizon being needed if future graduates are to deal successfully with the quite different problems that will confront them in 10 years time or more. The universities have traditionally maintained that their work, in terms of both teaching and research, is seriously undervalued if their broader contributions to national life are ignored, and Martin forcefully argues precisely this case in respect of the arts and social sciences, although he ends up by saying that the immense resources of the universities in this field remain under-exploited. Taylor and Coupland respectively argue that university departments of education and medicine aid the economy indirectly, Coupland’s being the longest chapter in the book and the only one to include any statistics. Anyone looking for references to rate of return analysis, manpower planning, the screening hypothesis, The Open University (a major omission, surely?), sandwich or parttime courses, or even some general supporting statistics, will not find them in this volume. Nor is there any reference to the career profiles of academic staff in the U.K., who typically spend the whole of their working lives in universities whereas in other comparable countries movements to and from industrial and commercial positions are much more common. Nevertheless, within its limited compass this is a very readable and interesting book, which should give the reader much food for thought. J.R. HOUGH Loughborough University