Existing research generally confirms a countercyclical education enrollment, whereby youths seek shelter in the educational system to avoid hardships in the labor market: the "discouraged worker" thesis. Alternatively, the "encouraged worker" thesis predicts that economic downturns steer individuals away from education because…

Opposition to university fees is often framed as a defence of higher education as a "right" rather than a "privilege". However, the basis and nature of this right is unclear. This article presents a conceptual exploration of the question, drawing on an initial analysis of international law. An argument is put forward for a…

Over the last 30 years there has been a massive expansion of the British higher education system. The removal of supply constraints on the provision of higher education, accompanied by a broadening of the constituency of higher education has allowed a larger pool of ability to benefit from schooling at tertiary level. (Author)

This collection of papers discusses the experience of students in the United Kingdom's new, mass higher education system. The papers are viewed as dispatches from the "front line" rather than conventional analyses by education researchers. The organization of the papers mirrors the stages of students' experience of higher…