Plan to Restructure British Higher Ed

I wish I knew more about the British educational system to say for sure, but this sure looks like the voucher slide to me:

Willetts, the universities and science minister, said the “conceptual shift” was that the whole framework of regulation needed to focus on “the student in receipt of the loan, rather than a group of institutions in receipt of [a government] grant.” He said: “You have to think of a regulator protecting students as consumers, ensuring they have access to what is still a very significant amount of public money and being clear about what happens in return.”

If our experience in America is any guide, the “competition” that this plan will foster will have zero to do with quality of instruction, and everything to do with amenities and co-curriculum. And then, a decade later, all the conservatives that supported consumer-driven education will sit around and shake their heads gravely, wondering how college turned into a five-year party. It will never be that they handed out vouchers to 17-year olds, though, because markets are smart.

But I really don’t know the British system, and maybe I am misreading this. If anyone wants to explain the system to me (and others) please do…