Higher education 'market' warning

Higher education in the United States is coming to resemble any other kind of personal service industry Professor Robert Reich Click here for a transcript

Britain has been warned of the dangers of following America in the "marketisation" of higher education.

The warning came from Robert Reich, a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University and a labour secretary in President Clinton's administration.

He was describing what he called "the destruction of public higher education in America, and how the UK can avoid the same fate".

Delivering the annual Higher Education Policy Institute lecture, Prof Reich said that from the 1950s to the 70s in the US, there had been a huge increase in federal and state funding for public universities.