The Committee on Higher Education was appointed by the Treasury on 8 February 1961 to review the pattern of full-time higher education in Great Britain and in the light of national needs and resources to advise the government on what principles its long-term development should be based. In particular, the committee was asked to advise, in the light of these principles, whether there should be any changes in that pattern, whether any new types of institution were desirable and whether any modifications should be made to existing arrangements for planning and co-ordinating the development... [+] Show more
The Committee on Higher Education was appointed by the Treasury on 8 February 1961 to review the pattern of full-time higher education in Great Britain and in the light of national needs and resources to advise the government on what principles its long-term development should be based. In particular, the committee was asked to advise, in the light of these principles, whether there should be any changes in that pattern, whether any new types of institution were desirable and whether any modifications should be made to existing arrangements for planning and co-ordinating the development of the various types of institution.
The report is arranged as follows. The first part sets out the principles which have guided the investigations. This is followed by a description of the present structure of higher education and some comparisons with other countries. The next part investigates the probable demand for higher education in Great Britain up to 1980 and the extent to which it should be met. An examination of the relationship between higher education and the schools is followed by a group of chapters in which the committee considers the work of the various existing institutions of higher education, and then suggests a pattern for the future. The following section deals with problems of staffing, teaching and finance, and goes on to consider problems of the internal government of institutions of higher education, academic freedom and the machinery of government. There follows a chapter on immediate problems before a summary of conclusions. The main argument of the report has deliberately been confined to the bare minimum of description and statistics essential to the formulation of policy. The five appendices, comprising six volumes, give the facts and figures on which many of our appraisals and recommendations are based. The concluding annex contains lists of the memoranda submitted to the committee and of the witnesses who gave oral evidence. It gives an account of the procedure followed in hearing evidence and visits abroad, and describes the statistical and other inquiries initiated. It is followed by a glossary of the terms used in the report and in the appendices.
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