Steering higher education towards the workplace

This article examines the changing relationship between higher education and the state in the United Kingdom during a period of rapid higher education expansion and diversification. The roles, respectively, of the academic community, the labour market, and government in the steering of this relationship are considered. The paper concludes that, although external initiatives may have an important role to play in stimulating change in higher education, it is the academic community itself which determines the pace and direction of change.