What should be the aims and purposes of higher education over the next twenty years?
The Open University suggests that the main purposes of HE should be: • To provide adults with ready access to a high quality learning experience of their choice which enables them: • to grow intellectually, develop as individuals and achieve fulfilment; • to prepare for future careers and for occupational and social change throughout life; • to play a full and responsible role in a democratic and pluralist society. • To promote the advancement of scholarship, research, and teaching, by: • undertaking high quality research in a breadth of subjects; • training researchers to meet employment needs; • providing a local, regional and national resource of expertise, ideas and inventiveness; • developing applied research and consultancy services; • stimulating innovation and excellence in teaching and learning. • To help foster the development of a learning society and to increase world-wide access to education and training opportunities. We wish to place particular emphasis on the need for t
