Dr. Josh Patel (he/him)

@joshpatel.bsky.social

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Researcher, Edge Foundation https://joshsdpatel.wixsite.com/joshpatel New book: 'Universities and the Purpose of Higher Education: Expansion and Development in Post-War Britain' (SRHE/Routledge) Swimmer & coach🏊🏽‍♂️🦦

Code 26SMA1 valid until 30 June 2026

Youth Training Scheme Learning from the Past paper preview

This thought-provoking book addresses the persistent anxieties surrounding the purpose and direction of higher education, offering a nuanced historical perspective on its transformation. Read more on the link included.

From my thesis, 'Imagining the Role of the Student in Society: ideas of British higher education policy and pedagogy, 1957-1972', 71.

Robbins also permitted himself what he recognised was an unscientific but egalitarian assumption in the name of fairness which permitted him to advocate the expansion of ‘pastoral power’. There was, he recognised, no way to scientifically prove that utility or satisfaction obtained by one individual from any given resource was of equal satisfaction to another individual. In an example he would frequently deploy, if members of another ‘civilisation’ told ‘us […] that members of his caste were capable of experiencing ten times as much satisfaction from given incomes as members of an inferior caste, we could not refute him […] in any objective sense’. He clarified elsewhere: ‘A Nazi or a Brahmin will choose one method of counting, a western liberal another’. But Robbins permitted the assumption on the grounds of moral necessity that the good society should assume that all individuals did possess equal faculties for the realisation of satisfaction.

An informational flyer from the Edge Foundation seeking student participants for research on studying at both further education colleges and universities, focusing on experiences, challenges, and ambitions. We are interviewing students from across the UK to ask them to share their experiences, and want to understand these to improve how colleges and universities work together. Interviews include a 15 minute activity and 30 minute discussion. Includes contact details (jpatel@edge.co.uk) and ethical guidelines.