The Dearing Report, formally known as the reports of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, is a series of major reports into the future of
Higher Education in the United Kingdom
Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by royal charter, papal bull, Act of Parliament, or an instrument of government under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. De ...
, published in 1997. The report was commissioned by the UK government and was the largest review of higher education in the UK since the
Robbins Committee
The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lord Robbins) was commissioned by the British government and published in 1963. The committee met from 1961 to 1963. After the report's publication, its conclusions wer ...
in the early 1960s. The principal author was Sir
Ronald Dearing, the
Chancellor of the
University of Nottingham
, mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom
, established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status
, type = Public
, chancellor ...
. It made 93 recommendations concerning the funding, expansion, and maintenance of academic standards.
The most significant change in funding recommended by the report is a shift from undergraduate tuition being funded entirely by grants from the government to a mixed system in which
tuition fees, supported by low interest government loans, are raised.
The report recommended expansion of sub-degree courses, and
degree level courses at university, proposing that there was sufficient demand from employers for applicants with higher qualifications for natural growth of higher education.
To the maintenance of standards the report recommended that the teaching staff receive some amount of training in teaching during their probationary period. It further proposes a system in which credit earned at one institution could be transferred to another.
The title "The Dearing Report" is also often given to the 2001 report "The Way Ahead: Church of England schools in the new millennium" which was chaired by Lord Dearing.
Committee members
;1997 report
*
Sir John Arbuthnott
*
Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde
Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, (29 April 1943 – 13 March 2018) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. As general secretary of SOGAT from 1985 until 1991, she was "the first woman elected to head a major in ...
*
Sir Ronald Dearing (Chairman)
*
Sir Geoffrey Holland
*
Sir Ronald Oxburgh
*
David E. Potter
David Edwin Potter (born 1943) is the founder and chairman of the microcomputer systems company Psion (computers), Psion PLC., and Psion Teklogix after Psion's acquisition of Teklogix in the year 2000.
Early life
Potter was born in East London, ...
*
Sir George Quigley
*
Sir William Stubbs
*
Sir Richard Sykes
*
Sir David Watson
*
Sir David Weatherall
;2001 report
*
Lord Dearing
*The Rev
John Hall
See also
*
Browne Review
The Browne Review or Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance was a review to consider the future direction of higher education funding in England.
It was launched on 9 November 2009 and published its findings on 12 Octo ...
References
External links
The Dearing ReportBBC article about Dearing
Higher education in the United Kingdom
Reports of the United Kingdom government
1997 in the United Kingdom
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