Competitive Tendering in Higher Education? Available to Purchase

This is the first in a series of three linked articles describing the major changes which are taking place in English public‐sector higher education as a result of the Education Reform Act 1988 and the replacement of the former National Advisory Body by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council. Colleges in the sector are now free‐standing corporations, with new governing bodies heavily dominated by business interests. Government policy is to increase efficiency and value for money in the sector and thus to expand student numbers without a proportionate increase in costs. This article traces the first major acts of the new PCFC, especially the introduction of a new funding system, part of which brings competitive tendering into the state education system for the first time. The new system has posed significant new challenges to college management and could well be extended to schools and further education.