A clear and concise introduction to the history of British universities, covering all parts of the British Isles.

Presenting a concise history of British universities and their place in society over eight centuries, this book gives an analysis of the university problems and policies as seen in the light of that history. It explains how the modern university system has developed since the Victorian era, giving attention to changes in policy since the WWII.

Education is a country's biggest business and the most important shared experience of those who live in it. A Century of Education provides an accessible, authoritative and fascinating overview of the role and nature of education in the twentieth century. Eminent historian of education, Professor Richard Aldrich has assembled a team of contributors, all noted experts in their respective fields, to review the successes and failures of education in the last century and to look forward to the next. A succinct overview of twentieth century social, economic, political and intellectual developments in the first chapter is followed by chapters on ten key topics. Each chapter has four sections: a review of the educational situation in 2000; a similar assessment in 1900; changes and continuities throughout the century; and a conclusion reviewing the lessons for today and tomorrow. This is a work of information, interpretation and reference, which demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of education during the twentieth century and identifies educational priorities for the twenty first. For anyone interested in what has become the most important Issue of our time, this unique book is set to become a classic text.

This concise study covers the development of education throughout Great Britain from the Industrial Revolution to the Great War: a period in which urbanization, industrialization and population growth posed huge social and political problems, and education became one of the fiercest areas of conflict in society.

Drawing on examples from Britain, France, and the United States, this book examines how scholars and scholarship found themselves mobilized to solve many problems created by modern warfare in World War I, and the many consequences of this for higher education which have lasted almost a century.

A uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate. Think of the British elite and familiar caricatures spring to mind. But are today’s power brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege and anointed at Eton and Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and political instincts? Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman combed through a trove of data in search of an answer, scrutinizing the profiles, interests, and careers of over 125,000 members of the British elite from the late 1890s to today. At the heart of this meticulously researched study is the historical database of Who’s Who, but Reeves and Friedman also mined genealogical records, examined probate data, and interviewed over 200 leading figures from a wide range of backgrounds and professions to uncover who runs Britain, how they think, and what they want. What they found is that there is less movement at the top than we think. Yes, there has been some progress on including women and Black and Asian Brits, but those born into the top 1 percent are just as likely to get into the elite today as they were 125 years ago. What has changed is how elites present themselves. Today’s elite pedal hard to convince us they are perfectly ordinary. Why should we care? Because the elites we have affect the politics we get. While scholars have long proposed that the family you are born into, and the schools you attend, leave a mark on the exercise of power, the empirical evidence has been thin—until now.