Regulating 'university' and degree-granting authority: Changing of the guard.

This paper describes the changes in the recognition of universities made or proposed in England, Australia and the USA since 2004, and posits a broad shift from the permanent designation of institutional types to the periodic recognition of qualification-granting authority. This is associated with increased private funding and operation of universities, which in turn is associated with a shift from elite to mass higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]