18 November 2016

Book review: what can we learn from the Californian system?

Dr Geoff Sharrock analyses Simon Marginson’s book, The dream is over: the crisis of Clark Kerr’s California idea of higher education.

Dr Sharrock describes the book as a ‘powerful work of scholarship and synthesis’ with ‘wide implications for policymakers, within and beyond the US’.

He notes that the 1960 Master Plan is set in its historical context of economic growth and social optimism, but says:

‘The book has relevance well beyond the US. Any nation facing growing demand for tertiary education, particularly those with flagging economies or fiscal constraints or both, must face some version of the design dilemmas that the Master Plan faced back then, and grapples with today.’

Read the full review on the LH Martin Institute blog