Understanding the Limits to Higher Education Policy Networks

One of the characteristics of the university reform in the last quarter century has been an increasing marketisation of higher education. In response to fears that universities represent classic dominant producers, governments have sought to stimulate efficiency and innovation in the higher education sector with a mix of increasing autonomy and competition for funding. The concept on which this lies is that stimulating competition drives out inefficiency by underperforming institutions. The most successful universities can recruit more students and win more research projects, allowing them to thrive. Conversely, less successful institutions will see their funding drop. They will either have to improve service levels or witness their gradual disappearance. Whilst the empirical value of the efficiency of higher education markets remains to be proven, marketisation is an undeniable landmark of the contemporary policy field.