Modularisation and commodification of higher education in the United Kingdom

1 IntroductionWhat happens in the future often hinges on decisions made today. Such a relation holds true particularly with reference to higher education and how this instruction determines the graduates' future. Similarly, on a national scale, without appropriate teaching and research institutions responsible for providing skilled and educated graduates, no country, even the wealthiest ones, can hope for progress and sustainable development.This need for constant progress, coupled with changes resulting from sociocultural and economic development have, in the last half a century, created a demand for a spectacular diversification in higher education. Without a doubt, the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first century will be marked in the history of universities as the decades of the most unprecedented expansion (Smoluk 2014).Although the scope and speed of change in the recent times have no match against the past, over the centuries the world of academic education has always shown its flexibility, viability and readiness for change. This can best be illustrated by the following example; when over a hundred years ago a few British universities began to introduce new courses as subjects of study for a degree such as English literature or later, engineering, these decisions on the extension of subjects offered by universities were regarded as pioneering. Similarly to the novelties of this kind, which were not always accepted eagerly and swiftly, higher education institutions came in for scanting criticisms related, for instance, to teaching programmes or a lack of enhancement of quality in researching and teaching. Neither is it different these days when universities have to meet high expectations and stand up to new challenges or difficulties, related, for example, to improved staff development, financing research and services, maintaining quality in teaching, relevance of courses and syllabi taught, etc.2 Research and Literature ReviewAs it becomes self-evident that present concerns for proper standards of higher education are similar to those which were identified a century ago, the principle aim of this work is to evaluate to what extent the shortcomings of the past have been successfully avoided by the present higher teaching institutions. Such an appraisal is quintessential in view of the fact that by examining how much advice offered by the past educational thinkers and practitioners has been heeded by the academia over the decades, this study ought to yield an answer to another issue i.e. have the past educational thinkers' and practitioners' suggestions for improvement, which we have accepted and followed, been brought into realisation much to satisfaction of those who put them forward?The underlying reason for undertaking this research derives from the fact that most available literature in this subject area, though vast and offering in-depth discussions, is narrowed down to the analysis of higher education and its future from the contemporary viewpoint, with few or no references made to the past. The recent years have been witness to a resurgence of interest and concern about universities and their future, resulting in numerous works related to the topic under consideration. Amongst such monographs and articles that stand out for their comprehensiveness one should mention the work by T. Hussey and P. Smith entitled The Trouble with Higher Education. A critical Examination of our Universities (Abingdon 2010), S. Baker and B. Brown's study entitled Rethinking Universities, The Social Functions of Higher Education (2007) or F. Gombrich's lecture delivered in Tokyo in 2000 entitled: British Higher Education Policy in the last Twenty Years: The Murder of a Profession . Similarly, a list of past educational thinkers and practitioners who wrote on higher education in their times is long, but for the purpose of this study only a few works have been selected, and these would include mainly: Education in the Modern world: the function of universities by A. …