Dearing Report (1997, UK)

The Dearing Report of 1997 comprised the findings and recommendations of a national committee of inquiry into higher education in the United Kingdom. It was the second inquiry of this kind after the Robbins Report of 1963. Amongst its major proposals was a return to expansion and the reintroduction of tuition fees payable by domestic full-time undergraduate students. Fee-charging was controversial in the United Kingdom because it broke with a policy of ‘free’ higher education since 1962. In this entry, the need for the inquiry is explained. Its remit, membership, conduct, and impact are described.

[Page 351]The Dearing Committee was appointed in May 1996. The trigger for the inquiry was a deepening funding crisis in higher education that led the government to bring a halt to ...