The BBC NEWS | Education | Higher education 'market' warning article is a couple of months old but I'm bookmarking it now for later in-depth reading:

Britain has been warned of the dangers of following America in the "marketisation" of higher education.

The warning came from Robert Reich, a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University and a labour secretary in President Clinton's administration.

He was describing what he called "the destruction of public higher education in America, and how the UK can avoid the same fate"...