The California Idea and American Higher Education: 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan

Throughout the twentieth century, public universities were established across the United States at a dizzying pace, transforming the scope and purpose of American higher education. Leading the way was California, with its internationally renowned network of public colleges and universities. This book is the first comprehensive history of California's pioneering efforts to create an expansive and high-quality system of public higher education.

The author traces the social, political, and economic forces that established and funded an innovative, uniquely tiered, and geographically dispersed network of public campuses in California. This influential model for higher education, The California Idea, created an organizational structure that combined the promise of broad access to public higher education with a desire to develop institutions of high academic quality. Following the story from early statehood through to the politics and economic forces that eventually resulted in the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education, The California Idea and American Higher Education offers a carefully crafted history of public higher education.

Author: John Aubrey Douglass
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 04/01/2000
Pages: 480
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.74lbs
Size: 9.34h x 6.38w x 1.49d
ISBN: 9780804731898

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2000 pg. 130

About the Author
John Aubrey Douglass is Senior Research Fellow for Public Policy and Higher Education at the Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley.