Can a purchaser be a partner? Nursing education in the English universities

Since the early 1990s, public sector management in England has been exhorted to follow the example of the private sector, and 'quasi-markets' have been established, for example in the health service. A quasi-market also exists between the NHS and higher education for the purchasing (or procurement) of nursing education. This paper uses policy documents such as the National Health Service Executive Circular (March 1999) on 'Good Contracting Guidelines' for Non-Medical Education and Training, plus other relevant literature on the commodification of higher education, quasi-markets and contract theory to examine this market, and the confusion of two rhetorics, those of competition and partnership. Nursing occupies a marginal place in higher education in England, having only recently become part of it. The emphasis of the quasi-market on the output of a trained 'fit for purpose' labour force combines with professional attempts to create an academic discipline, in complex ways which are as yet underanalysed.