Nepal, May 9 -- While the terms 'mass or universal elementary education' and 'higher education' have been in global vogue for about the preceding three centuries, 'mass higher education' is new and certainly a postWWII idea. To illustrate: Global Gross-Tertiary-Enrolment Ratio was 10.1 percent in 1972 and now it is much above 40 and increasing by one percent per year--popularly described as its 'massification'. This phenomenon appears welcome, and few bother about its origins, evolution or wider ramifications.

But it is high time that these latter questions are systematically investigated and evaluated at least given the contemporary phenomenon of declining global standards and quality of higher education/learning. During WWII, the UK's ...