This is an important book. It is the most successful attempt so far to conceptualise the post-war development of higher education.'

- Times Higher Education Supplement

Examining the relationship between higher education policy and the state, Reforming Higher Education focuses on the ways in which the changing concepts of the nature of the state and its role have had an impact on the development of higher education policy in the last thirty years. The authors study the dynamics behind the shift from state-subsidised independence to ambiguous but increased dependence on and deference to the state's policies. Employing the latest extensive research and interview material, the book looks at:

* the major changes in higher education policy

* the changes in the nature of the state

* the changes in state's machinery for policy implementation

* how policies emerge, and how continuous they are

* the influence of interest groups and elites on policy-making and implementation

* the changes in institutional government.