Dr Martin Trow, a famous American educational sociologist and professor of the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, died of illness in California on February 24th, 2007.
Martin Trow first put forward the concept of "mass higher education" in 1962, 1970 and 1973, respectively, which gave birth to the theory of mass higher education.
According to Martin Trow's theory, the elite education stage is when the gross enrollment rate of higher education is below 15%, the popularization stage is when the gross enrollment rate is above 15% and below 50%, and the popularization stage is when the gross enrollment rate is above 50%. He took the United States as the sample and Europe (especially Britain) as the frame of reference.
According to Martin Trow's theory of higher education popularization, in the stage of higher education popularization, there are different correlations between quantity growth and quality change; Popular and elite higher education coexist; Diversified development conflicts with traditional educational ideas; This process varies from country to country.
When talking about the theory of higher education popularization, Martin Trow said that popularization is a theory, a signal to reveal changes, and has an early warning function. When the gross enrollment rate of higher education reaches the range of 15%, the activities of colleges and universities will change greatly.
When the gross enrollment rate of American higher education reached this range in the late 1930s, the activities of colleges and universities began to change. Martin Trow pointed out that great changes will take place in higher education, and we should be prepared for the coming changes. Popularization theory is an early warning theory to remind you to be prepared.