Da relativa segurança à incerteza excessiva

Leituras que soam familiares, descontando o habitual lapso temporal entre o nosso País e outros, bem como as diferenças entre os sistemas de ensino; e que deviam ser debatidas, agora que o Governo anuncia uma nova reforma, que se quer quase instantânea, do sistema de ensino superior.

"One case which has sometimes been made in this country [Inglaterra] for public funding is the need for some stability in an activity that is inevitably long term. (...) Radical changes in all three constitutents of tertiary education (universities, polytechnics and colleges, and Further Education Colleges) were imposed on a system that, before, 1980, had become accustomed to considerable stability in its funding arrangements. Private sector critics claimed that universities expected too much certainty in an uncertain world. The fact is, however, that in recent years policy and management changes have created environmental turbulence as severe as any faced by free market organisations of equivalent size. Excessive security has given way to unreasonable uncertainty."

Gareth Williams, State finance of higher education - an overview of theoretical and empirical issues, em Changing Relationships Between Higher Education and the State, Ed. Mary Henkel and Brenda Little (1999).