Emeritus Professor Gareth Parry

BA (Hons), CertEd, PhD, FRSA, FSRHE

School of Education

Emeritus Professor of Education

Visiting Professor, ESRC Centre for Global Higher Education

Visiting Fellow, Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, New College Oxford

Winner, Wonkhe Award for Lifetime Contribution to Better Higher Education Policy

g.w.parry@sheffield.ac.uk

The Wave

Full contact details

Emeritus Professor Gareth Parry
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH

Profile

Gareth Parry joined the University of Sheffield in 2009 and served as Director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education for the next nine years. On retirement in 2017, the title of Emeritus Professor was conferred in recognition of his contributions to the University and the School of Education. In 2018, he received the Wonkhe Award for Lifetime Contribution to Better Higher Education Policy. His continuing involvement with the University and School is as a researcher, mentor, examiner and consultant.

Gareth is a policy scholar in the field of higher education studies. His research is addressed to system change and policy reform in college and university sectors. Following an early career working in further education colleges and open colleges in London, he moved into academic positions at City, Warwick and Surrey Universities and the Institute of Education, University of London.

He has led major research projects funded by the research councils, government departments and national agencies. These have investigated access, participation and equity in tertiary education, cross-national perspectives on college systems, and policy inquiry processes in higher and further education. He was a research consultant to the Dearing inquiry into UK higher education (1996-97) and the Foster review of further education colleges in England (2004-05). He was a founding member of the ESRC Centre for Global Higher Education, a social science research centre dedicated to the study of higher education and its future.

Research interests

His current research is focused on:

the formation and transformation of college systems
higher education in local settings
further education as an organisational field

Publications

Books
Journal articles
Chapters
Reports

Books

David M, Bathmaker A-M, Crozier G, Davis P, Ertl H, Fuller A, Hayward G, Heath S, Hockings C, Parry G , Reay D et al (2009) Improving Learning by Widening Participation in Higher Education. Routledge.

Journal articles

Allen J & Parry G (2022) The bachelor’s degree in college systems: history, evidence and argument from England. London Review of Education, 20(1).
Parry G (2016) College higher education in England 1944–66 and 1997–2010. London Review of Education, 14(1), 86-105. View this article in WRRO
Parry G (2015) English higher education and its vocational zones. Research in Comparative and International Education, 10(4), 493-509. View this article in WRRO
Parry G (2015) Michael Shattock (2012) Making Policy in British Higher Education 1945-2011. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill and Open University Press. 296 pp. ISBN-13: 978 0 335241866. eISBN: 978 0 335241873; £37.99.. Higher Education Quarterly, 69(2), 214-218.
Barnett R & Parry G (2014) Policy analysis research in higher education: negotiating dilemmas. Magis. Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación, 7(14), 69-69. View this article in WRRO
Parry G (2014) Robbins and Advanced Further Education. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(2), 187-209. View this article in WRRO
Parry G (2013) Colleges and the Governance of Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly(4).
Parry G (2012) Higher education in further education colleges: A primer. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 16(4), 118-122.
Parry G (2012) Higher education in further education colleges: A primer. Perspectives(4), 118-122.
Parry G (2011) From Vocational to Higher Education. An International Perspective - By Gavin Moodie. Higher Education Quarterly, 65(4), 434-436.
Parry G (2011) Mobility and hierarchy in the age of near-universal access. Critical Studies in Education, 52(2), 135-149.
Parry G (2010) The dirty work of higher education. London Review of Education, 8(3), 217-227.
Parry G (2009) Student Demand and Institutional Diversification: The Case of England. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 15(2), 170-170.
Parry G (2009) Higher education, further education and the English experiment. Higher Education Quarterly, 63(4), 322-342.
Bathmaker AM, Brooks G, Parry G & Smith D (2008) Dual-sector further and higher education: policies, organisations and students in transition. RES PAP EDUC, 23(2), 125-137.
Parry G (2006) Policy-Participation Trajectories in English Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly, 60(4), 392-412.
Parry G (2005) Higher education: handbook of theory and research, volume XVII. TEACH HIGH EDUC, 10(1), 123-127.
Parry G (2003) Mass Higher Education and the English: Wherein the Colleges?. Higher Education Quarterly, 57(4), 308-337.
Egerton M & Parry G (2001) Lifelong Debt: Rates of Return to Mature Study. Higher Education Quarterly, 55(1), 04-27.
Parry G & Percy K (1995) Licensed Partnership: State, Region and Institution in the Regulation of Access Education in England 1987?1992. Higher Education, 29(1), 1-18.
PARRY G (1991) EDUCATIONS FOR OTHER PEOPLE - ACCESS TO EDUCATION FOR NON-PARTICIPANT ADULTS - MCGIVNEY,V. STUDIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 16(2), 230-231.

Chapters

Parry G (2020) Dearing Report (1997, UK) In David M (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Higher Education (pp. 350-352). SAGE Publications
Parry G (2020) Browne Report (2010, England) In David M (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Higher Education (pp. 188-190). SAGE Publications
Parry G (2020) Impact of Higher Education In David M (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Higher Education (pp. 790-796). SAGE Publications
Parry G (2020) Robbins Report (1963, Great Britain) In David M (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Higher Education (pp. 1303-1307). SAGE Publications
Parry G (2011) What should the college contribution be? In Coiffait L (Ed.), Blue Skies: new thinking about the future of higher education (pp. 68-70). London: Pearson.
Parry G (2010) Policy contexts: differentiation, competition and policies for widening participation In David M (Ed.), Improving Learning by Widening Participation in Higher Education, (pp. 31-47). Abingdon: Routledge.
Parry G (2010) Academic Standards and Mass Higher Education In Burrage M (Ed.), Martin Trow. Twentieth-Century Higher Education. Elite to Mass to Universal, (pp. 239-241). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Parry G (2010) University adult education and the shift to mass higher education In Jones, B, Thomas, G & Moseley R (Ed.), University Continuing Education 1981-2006. Twenty-five turbulent years, Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.
() Understanding Mass Higher Education Routledge

Reports

Parry G, Allen J, Boniface R, Hayward-Smith L, Saraswat A, Thompson A & Whalley G (2022) Education and Training at Levels 4 and 5 in London
Parry G, Callender C, Scott P & Temple P (2012) Understanding Higher Education in Further Education colleges
Parry G, Rashid S, Thompson A & Brooks G (2011) Patterns of Further and Higher Education in Colleges and Universities in England: A Statistical Summary and Technical Commentary
Parry G & Thompson A (2009) Higher education strategies from further education colleges: evaluation of the pilot exercise
Parry G, Blackie P & Thompson A (2009) Higher Education in Further Education Colleges (HE in FECs). Brief Guide for Governors and Clerks in Further Education Colleges.

Teaching activities: Gareth is an external examiner for Doctoral degrees in the UK and worldwide.

Publications

Recent books and research monographs

Scott P, Gallacher J and Parry G (Eds) (2017) New Languages and Landscapes of Higher Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 273 pp.
Parry G, Saraswat A and Thompson A (2017) Sub-Bachelor Higher Education in the United Kingdom. Gloucester: QAA, 105 pp.
Hunt S, Callender C and Parry G (2016) The Entry and Experience of Private Providers of Higher Education in Six Countries. London: Centre for Global Higher Education, UCL Institute of Education, 96 pp.
Parry G, Callender C, Scott P and Temple P (2012) Understanding Higher Education in Further Education Colleges, BIS Research Paper 69. London: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, 219 pp.
Rashid S, Parry G, Thompson A and Brooks G (2011) Patterns of Further and Higher Education in Colleges and Universities in England: A Statistical Summary and Technical Commentary. Bristol: HEFCE, 89 pp.
David M with Bathmaker A-M, Crozier G, Davis P, Ertl H, Fuller A, Haywood G, Heath S, Hockings C, Parry G, Vignoles A and Williams J (2010) Improving Learning by Widening Participation. Abingdon: Routledge, 258 pp.

Recent journal articles

Parry G (2016) College higher education in England 1944-1966 and 1997-2010, London Review of Education, 14 (1), pp 85-104
Parry G (2015) English higher education and its vocational zones, Research in Comparative and International Education, 10 (4), pp 493-509.
Parry G (2014) Robbins and Advanced Further Education, Higher Education Quarterly, 68 (2), pp 187-209.
Barnett R and Parry G (2014) Policy analysis in higher education: negotiating dilemmas, Magis. Revista Internacional de Investigacion en Education, 7 (14), pp 69-84.
Parry G (2013) Colleges and the Governance of Higher Education, Higher Education Quarterly, 67 (4), pp 315-339.
Parry G (2012) Higher education in further education colleges. A primer, Perspectives, 16 (4), pp 118-122.
Parry G (2011) Mobility and hierarchy in the age of near-universal access, Critical Studies in Education, 52 (2), pp 135-149.
Parry G (2010) The dirty work of higher education, London Review of Education, 8 (3), pp 217-227.
Parry G (2009) Further education, higher education and the English experiment, Higher Education Quarterly, 63 (4), pp 322-342.
Parry G (2009) Student demand and institutional diversification: the case of England, Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 15 (2), pp 170-186.