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A key turning point in British politics was Tony Blair’s famous priorities: “education, education, education”. A giant step was his 1999 conference speech: “Today I set a target of 50% of young adults going into higher education in the next century.” By 2017-18 that threshold had been crossed in England, with more than half of young people taking that leap forward. In 1980 it was just 15%.
But universities are falling into severe financial crisis. Unsurprisingly, the Tories are not unduly bothered. They attack universities all