Polytechnics in the '70s

The grand design for higher education in the seventies has not yet emerged. The overriding priority of the Secretary of State for Education and Science is the improvement of conditions in primary schools and no one can doubt the urgency of this. But since resources for education are limited, the question which faces polytechnics is how their long term planning should be shaped. Economies in higher education will be vigorously pursued. The belief that polytechnics are a cheaper alternative to universities has yet to be tested; and machinery has yet to be developed which will permit costs in institutions to be compared. Faced with such a situation, polytechnics are seeking to draw plans for expansion up to 1976, and in the short time they have existed, forces inevitably are developing which may well affect their future pattern.