Peter Scott 
Retreat or Resolution? 
Tackling the Crisis of Mass Higher Education

Although higher education in the UK has expanded opportunities for much of the population, in many ways it remains stubbornly elitist.
In order to address this crisis in education, Peter Scott, a leading expert and unique voice, examines the development of mass higher education and proposes a ‘radical escape-forward’. He calls for more robust action to secure fair access at all levels and changes in the governance and management at both system and institutional levels to ensure more democratic accountability.
Setting out a clear and radical programme for reform, this book makes an important contribution to current debates in education in the context of the evolution of the UK economy and wider society.

Table of Content

1. A ‘General Crisis’?
2. ‘Post-War’ to Post-Millennium
3. The Development of Mass Higher Education
4. Themes and Transformations
5. Higher Education Today
6. A Further Gaze
7. The UK in the 21st Century
8. COVID-19 Emergency and Market Experiment
9. What is to be done?

About the author

Peter Scott is (Emeritus) Professor of Higher Education at the UCL Institute of Education. He has worked as a journalist and an academic and is currently Commissioner for Fair Access for the Scottish Government. Former Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University. Peter Scott was knighted in 2007 for services to education.