FUNDING POLYTECHNICS IN ENGLAND - AN APPLICATION OF NONLINEAR-PROGRAMMING

This paper offers an application of non-linear programming to the fund ing system for polytechnics in England. The proposed model is used to anticipate the likely impact of government policy on institutions. One novel feature of the model is the authors' decision to not make use o f an objective function in the analysis. This decision is examined and justified. In particular, it is argued that, in this way, the applica tion of non-linear programming can be extended as a descriptive tool i n the social sciences.