Introducing a European Education Income for a cross-class Higher Education

This paper examines the social dimensions of Higher Education, studying the effects that the implementation of New Public Management in Europe had into them. Firstly, the paper focuses on the definition of New Public Management and on its application to HE. Moreover, it shows the reasons why it entailed an incrementation of tuition fees and of drops-out. The paper also examines the effects of NPM on the relationship between students and faculty and outlines their attempts, in the UK and Poland, to oppose the marketized and hierarchical university system due to NPM. Then, it analyses the reasons why governments should accommodate these claims, considering the social and economic role of HE in our societies. The paper concludes by proposing the adoption of a European Education Income, on the model of basic income, in order to overcome problems due to a low social mobility and to a limited access to HE.