On The Development Of Higher Education's Convergence Trend In The United Kingdom

With the diversification of higher education in many countries of the world, the higher education in the United Kingdom is against the stream, which shows a trend of convergence under the background of diversified higher education. This trend is reflected in many aspects, for example, multi-degrees, curriculum, management mechanism and so on. In this dissertation, only two aspects are selected: one is vocational and academic integration, the other is nationalization. Then the causes of these phenomena are explored. Finally, taking the condition of our country in consideration, the author draws several points which are beneficial to our higher education.This article is divided into four chapters:In chapterâ… , it outlines the diversified background of higher education in the United Kingdom. According to its different levels, higher education in the United Kingdom is classified into two parts: university and non-university. Each part is composed by many kinds of institutions which are given general explanation. On the basis of the explanation, the author compares the differences of university and non-university.In chapterâ…¡, the homogenization of higher education in the United Kingdom is described from two aspects: academic and vocational integration and the nationalization.In chapterâ…¢, the causes of the convergence trend of higher education in the United Kingdom are analyzed from the following four aspects: the internationalization of higher education, the integration of European higher education, quality assurance and funding unification.As for chapterâ…£, although the higher education in our country is essentially different from that of the United Kingdom, three points can be learned from the higher education in the UK: using legislation to ensure the state macro-control of colleges and universities, reconciling the contradiction between the autonomy of colleges and universities and the national centralization as well as establishing a "buffer" funding mechanism to protect the autonomy of colleges and universities.