Retreat or Resolution? Tackling the Crisis of Mass Higher Education

This webinar is based on the book, Retreat or Resolution? Tackling the Crisis of Mass Higher Education, published by Bristol University Press at the end of October.

The core argument is that, despite the fourfold expansion of places in universities since the 1970s, mass higher education remains an unsettling phenomenon. For some it has gone too far – which explains the rising political rhetoric about low-value courses, under-performing institutions and dumbing-down. For others it has not gone far enough – simply creating mass access for the middle classes while effectively still excluding the ‘left behind’ (to adopt another fashionable political trope). I will argue that the only chive is a radical leap forward, while also arguing that a mass system inevitably mimics the society (and its flaws) in which that system is embedded.

CGHE webinars are fully open to participants. They are interactive, enabling attendees to speak directly in the webinar, ask questions of speakers when called in by the chair and see all other participants. At any time you can communicate directly with others, either all together or on a one-to-one basis, through the webinar Chat.