The Higher Education System

'First, this is a major work of scholarship, the product of immense knowledge and gestation over many years of study, which looks at higher education in a new way; second, at a time when confidence has been seriously undermined by the effects of the economic downturn this is a study which implicitly asserts the fundamental role of higher education in the broad spectrum of modern societies....his grasp of detail and his understanding of the historical context is secure and his bibliography is a treasure trove of little known material. Moreover he writes in an attractive and informal style....This will be an influential book and will set new trends of thinking in higher education.'-----M. L. Shattock, The Times Higher Education Supplement ( London ).