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This book provides a critique of the higher education system in the UK, with relevance to countries with similar systems. The issues discussed focus on the problems facing the principle responsibilities of universities: teaching, learning and research. The first half of the book identifies a number of problems that have followed the growth of mass education. It examines their causes and explains their damaging effects. The second half of the book offers a broad vision and makes a number of practical suggestions for ameliorating the problems and improving higher education. Supported by research, the suggestions include: ways of managing universities; proper inspection; better ways of organising students' learning; improving teaching and learning; better approaches to assessment, and the proper use of ideas such as learning outcomes. Topics discussed include: chronic under-funding, the replacement of student grants with loans and the introduction of tuition fees; the growth of managerialism; the emphasis on accountability and decline of trust; the growth of a competitive, market ethos; modular degrees, knowledge treated as a commodity and students seen as customers; the drift towards a two-tiered system, with teaching colleges and research universities; and casualisation of the academic profession.