The triumph of the market

When the financial crisis hit Britain and deficits rose in 2009, the funding of higher education came under scrutiny again. Thus, Labour launched a review to reconsider higher education funding, which was eventually published when the new coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats was already in power. The Browne Review (2010) and in particular its recommendation to remove the fees cap caused massive student protests in November and December 2010. But despite the mass protests, the House of Commons largely accepted the review’s proposals. ¹ Consequently, teaching grants were reduced by 80 percent, and the fee cap was raised to £6,000 and £9,000 for higher education institutions that would install specific widening participation measures (Callender 2012: 84). ² These new funding arrangements, however, only applied to England but not to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland where the state continued to fund parts of tuition. ³