The Dream Is Over: The Crisis of Clark Kerr’s California Idea of Higher Education

What is it about?

The book focuses on the remarkable Californian public education system, past, present and future, and its global impact. Part I of the book starts from the legacy of Clark Kerr and the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education in California, noting the strengths and weaknesses of that framework. Part II reflects on the spread of the Californian ‘Multiversity’, and the influence of the system model, throughout the world, especially in East Asia. There is some discussion of rising China in science, and US/China relations. Part III then discusses the gathering and growing difficulties faced by public higher education in America, in the context of an increasingly unequal economy and society. The conclusion suggests ways forward for the future. The book is co-published by University of California Press and the Centre for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley. It is an extended treatment of issues first discussed in the 2014 Clark Kerr Lectures on Higher Education at the University of California.

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Why is it important?

The book discusses the growing difficulties faced by public higher education in America today in the context of an increasingly unequal economy and society, and suggests ways forward for the future. It has been featured in the Times Higher Education: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/comment/master-plan-2-0-still-hope-for-the-california-dream