Abstract
The California Master Plan and the Report of the Robbins Committee, published within 3 years of one another in the early 1960s sought to address very similar issues but different historical, political, financial and cultural contexts affected the process to be followed. The Master Plan represented a negotiated treaty between different institutional interests which was then endorsed by the state legislature; the Robbins report was the product of a major national committee many of whose recommendations were overturned by national politicians. Britain has in practice followed a broadly comparable route to the creation of a higher education system combining broad access with an elite sector but at a slower pace. The Master Plan created a rigorous framework which has been retained for half a century; the British approach has been evolutionary reflecting both pressures of demand and changes in the political and economic environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Advisory Board for the Research Councils. (1987). A strategy for the science base. London: HMSO.
Annan, N. (1967). Higher education. In B. Crick (Ed.), Essays on reform. A century tribute. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Britton, E. (1965). Quoted in P. R. Sharp (1987), The creation of the local authority sector of higher education. London: The Falmer Press.
Campbell, J. (2000). Margaret Thatcher (The grocer’s daughter, Vol. I). London: Jonathan Cape.
Carswell, J. (1985). Government and the universities in Britain: Programme and performance, 1960–1980. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Committee of Polytechnic Directors. (1970, Minutes of July 13). University of Warwick: Modern Records Centre, Archives.
Committee of Polytechnic Directors. (1980, February 13). Oral Evidence, Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons Education, Science and Arts Committee, The funding and organisation of courses in higher education, Vol. 11. London: HMSO, HC 787-II.
Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals. (1956, Minutes of November 22 and 1962, January 26). University of Warwick: Modern Records Centre, Archives.
Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals. (1966, Minutes of November 11). University of Warwick: Modern Records Centre, Archives.
Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals. (1994, Minutes of October 26). University of Warwick: Modern Records Centre, Archives.
Committee on Higher Education. (1963). Higher education report (Robbins). London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, Cmnd 2154. Also Appendix V, Annex S.
Committee on Higher Education. (1963, September). H. C. Shearman, “Note of Reservation on Administrative Arrangements.”
Crosland, S. (1982). Tony Crosland. London: Jonathan Cape.
Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. (2011, June). Higher education students at the heart of the system. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office.
Department of Education and Science. (1965, April 27). Secretary of State’s speech at Woolwich Polytechnic, Administrative Memo 7/65.
Donoughue, B. (1987). Prime minister. The conduct of policy under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. London: Jonathan Cape.
Douglass, J. A. (2000). The California idea and American higher education. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Godwin, C. D. (1998). The origin of the binary system. History of Education, 27(2), 171–191.
Halsey, A. H. (1996). No discouragement: An autobiography. London: Macmillan.
Kerr, C. (1963). The uses of the university. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kerr, C. (1991). The great transformation in higher education. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Kerr, C. (2001). The gold and the blue, a personal memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967 (Academic triumphs, Vol. I). Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.
Kogan, M., & Hanney, T. (2000). Reforming higher education. London: Jessica Kingsley.
McConnell, T. H., Papers. Interview with Tony Crosland. (1966, May 6). Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, MSS 89/3C.
Ministry of Education. (1944). Committee on teachers and youth leaders, Report (McNair). London: HMSO.
Ministry of Education. (1945). Special committee on higher technological education, Report (Percy). London: HMSO.
Ministry of Education. (1956, February). Technical education. London: HMSO, Cmnd 9703.
Morris, C. (1963–1964). First reactions to the Robbins report. Universities Quarterly, 18, 109–116.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (1990). Higher education in California. Paris.
Pratt, J. (1997). The polytechnic experiment, 1965–1992. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Pratt, J., & Burgess, T. (1974). The polytechnics: A report. London: Pitman.
Robbins, L. (1965a, December). Report on Robbins: Lord Robbins and Boris Ford. Universities Quarterly, 20(1), 5–16.
Robbins, L. (1965b, December). Speech in the House of Lords. L. Robbins (1966), The university in the modern world. London: MacMillan.
Rothblatt, S. (Ed.). (1992). The OECD, the master plan and the California dream, a Berkeley conversation. Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California.
Shattock, M. L. (2010). Managing successful universities. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Trow, M. (1963–1964). Robbins: a question of size and shape. Universities Quarterly, 18, 117–132.
Trow, M. (1987). Academic standards and mass higher education. Higher Education Quarterly, 41–3, 268–292.
Trow, M. (2005). An American perspective on British higher education: The decline of diversity, autonomy and trust in post-war British higher education. Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California. Quoted in R. Taylor and T. Steele (2011). British Labour and Higher Education, 1945–2000. London: Continuum.
University Grants Committee. (1950). A note on technology in the universities. London: UGC.
Walsh Papers. (1974). Interview with Lord Morris. Leeds University Library: Box 1, MS1774.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shattock, M. (2012). Parallel Worlds: The California Master Plan and the Development of British Higher Education. In: Rothblatt, S. (eds) Clark Kerr's World of Higher Education Reaches the 21st Century. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4258-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4258-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4257-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4258-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)