The position of the corporate college

Abstract

Changes of status, management, resourcing and curriculum are currently affecting schools of nursing and midwifery. Institutions of further education and higher education are also experiencing changes in these areas — mainly as a consequence of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. This chapter compares these changes with the intention of identifying the principal similarities and differences, in particular drawing out the important implications for those involved in health care education.

This chapter begins an analysis of the nature and implications of the new market for education, which constitutes most of the second half of the book.

By examining three ‘key transactions of colleges, namely money, students and trained personnel, the chapter shows how the conventional ‘in-house training of the conventional DHA college is being superseded by a market situation in which both the college and the college s primary clients (NHS trusts) are corporate organizations.

A comparison of the position of colleges of health care studies with institutions of further and higher education in England and Wales is used to show that colleges are moving from unusually secure positions within health districts to uniquely exposed positions in which their future solvency is increasingly dependent on small numbers of similar and powerful employer organizations.