Dearing: A nearly forgotten inquiry

1. Dearing:A nearly forgotten inquiry Rhiannon Birch 14 February 2014

2. Research question • Did the Dearing Inquiry represent a major exercise in codification? • Codification: the establishment of principles, protocols and frameworks • Are there differences between the terms of reference and the scope of the recommendations? • Does this imply a broader agenda is at work?

3. The Dearing Inquiry: overview • Response to: • Financial crisis • General Election, 1997 • National Inquiry, not single issue report • The remit: • Recommendations on: purposes, shape, structure, size and funding of higher education • Teaching, learning, scholarship and research • 20 year horizon

4. Key concepts • New Public Management • Neo-liberalism • Audit Culture • Codification • Autonomy • Power • Accountability Government University

5. Remit and Recommendations • The remit was supported by additional principles which refined and extended the overall scope. • 75 recommendations can be mapped directly to the remit. • A further 18 relate to Governance (13) or Funding (5). • Dearing’s immediate press: student fees, renewed growth and widening participation • But also codification?

6. Proposed methodology • The Dearing archive: • Evidence submissions • Committee minutes (including oral submissions) • Administrative documents • Re-evaluation of the evidence • Limitations of documentary sources • Conceptual lenses • Sampling, reading protocols, interviews