Compliance, resistance and seduction: reflections on 20 years of the funding council model of governance

摘要

Formally the new public management model of governance was introduced into British higher education with the passage of the 1988 Education Reform Act, which abolished the existing University Grants Committee (UGC) and instigated the funding councils. This article explores the relationship between the state, the funding councils and the universities with respect to the contemporary development of the English system of higher education. The analysis is based on an exploration of four key policy issues: the quality assurance regime, the research assessment exercises, the widening participation agenda and the introduction of student fees. The goal is to explore how the quasi-state organisations—in particular the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)—have mediated the relationship between the state and the universities. The evidence suggests that the coupling of the state to the universities follows one of three tracks: compliance, resistance and seduction. The article explores what factors determine why one relationship (or combination of relationships) prevails, and explains patterns of change over time. The overall conclusion is that institutional interaction is very complex, and it is inaccurate—as is sometimes claimed—to view the funding council as little more than a compliant channel of government policy.