| Abstract: | This article presents and discusses in slightly paradoxical terms the increasing action of market forces in the academic world in the United Kingdom as set against the transition in eastern and central Europe of centrally planned economies to market economies. The process in neither case is simple, nor does it necessarily deliver the desired results. For instance, can the massive job losses associated with privatization, East and West, really be construed as liberation? Since in the United Kingdom markets for health and education will always retain a degree of artificiality, their privatization must be undertaken with particular care of a kind which is not necessarily forthcoming. The tentative conclusion is that higher education will have to come to grips with the market whether it be considered inspiring or insidious. |
