The Robbins Report was a 1963 UK government report, chaired by the economist Lionel Robbins, that recommended a major expansion of higher education, establishing the principle that university places should be available to all who were qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and wished to do so. It led directly to a significant increase in the number of British universities and student places through the 1960s, including the creation of several new universities.
Facts
Key ProvisionUniversity places should be available to all who were qualified by ability and attainment (the Robbins principle). 3 Enacted / Adopted Year Classification
Policy TypeAccess or Equity Policy 1 Education LevelBachelor or Equivalent (ISCED 6) 2 FAQs
Did the Robbins Report say that everyone should go to university?
It held that places should be open to everyone qualified by ability and attainment who wished to take one, not to everyone.
No. The report assumed as an axiom that courses of higher education should be available for all those who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so. That sets two conditions beside openness: a person has to be qualified, and has to want a place. The report treated a different matter separately, saying that what type of education such students should get, and in what kind of institution, were questions it went on to consider.
Sources
1. Education in England: the history of our schools: Robbins Report (1963), Higher Education
Education in England: the history of our schoolsPage textQuote, Page text
Throughout our Report we have assumed as an axiom that courses of higher education should be available for all those who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so.
2. Education in England: the history of our schools (Derek Gillard), hosting the report text: Robbins (1963) Report of the Committee on Higher Education
Education in England: the history of our schools (Derek Gillard), hosting the report textChapter 1, terms of referenceQuote, Chapter 1, terms of reference
to review the pattern of full-time higher education in Great Britain and in the light of national needs and resources to advise Her Majesty's Government on what principles its long-term development should be based.
3. Robbins Report - Wikipedia
Introduction, sentence 1
published in 1963
Introduction, paragraph 3
should be available to all who were qualified for them by ability and attainment
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