What is the function of a university? Ivory tower or trade school for plumbers?

• Published in: Quality assurance in education Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 145 - 151
• Main Author: Barrett, Brenda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford MCB UP Ltd 01.09.1998; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Academic Education; College Role; College students; Colleges & universities; Degrees (Academic); Educational Change; Higher Education; Legal profession; Professional Education; Quality; Role of Education; Undergraduate Study; Universities; Vocational Education; United Kingdom > UK; Higher education; Legal profession; Quality; Universities
• ISSN: 0968-4883; 1758-7662
• DOI: 10.1108/09684889810220447

In 1967 an academic wrote: "AA university is not a trade school for the production of plumbers". He wrote about legal education which in England, as in many other countries, has a tradition of recognising academic study and vocational training as separate stages on the route to professional qualification. Thirty years ago universities catered for a relatively small sector of the population; concentrating on undergraduate studies for students entering at the age of 18. Notes the evolution in universities since that time and debates the experience universities should be providing for students today. It will suggest that the failure to distinguish the various forms of higher education is detrimental to the degree and this in turn is harmful to universities. It will conclude by questioning whether Dearing is likely to provide appropriate solutions to the problems