Then, many of them were actually the targets of student protests whereas now it is not the students that tutors are in conflict with but rather the state and university administrators who decide upon and implement parsimonious and restrictive budgetary quotas. Instead of being on opposite sides of the barricades the respective objective positions of staff and students mean that there is a real, material basis for them linking up and making common cause against the capitalist state which makes their lives ever more difficult. Not only this but the situation of students' parents has changed as well. Back in the Sixties better off parents did have to contribute towards their children's grants but it was something they could afford without much difficulty. Now all parents, including those who cannot possibly afford to do so, are expected to provide their student offspring with considerable financial assistance.
Parents too find themselves in conflict with the state over the provision of higher education.
Unlike the situation in the Sixties, in the Nineties lecturers, students and their parents have interests in common with respect to higher education. All of them are under financial pressure and the circumstances of students and tutors make it very difficult for them to properly carry out their academic tasks. Given the production line methods used to run many courses, students receive little, if any, intellectual stimulation. In addition most of them do not have the time to really engage with their studies but are forced to take a purely instrumental attitude because of the long hours they have to spend on part-time jobs to try to make ends meet. The wide range of intellectual and cultural activities outside of their formal studies that students used to engage in have greatly reduced for the same reason.