Synopses & Reviews
Everyone from parents to policymakers has an interest in the mission of higher education, yet in many cases, the shifting relationship between public and private goods and public and private purposes has complicated that mission. Recent changes in organization, funding, and assessment have also altered the public purpose of universities. In this collection, scholars from around the world confront the realities of higher education and the future of its public and private agenda. Their perspective illuminates the trajectory of education in the twenty-first century and the continuing importance of the university's public mission.
Reporting from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America, scholars confront the realities of higher education and the future of its public and private agenda. Their perspective illuminates the trajectory of education in the twenty-first century and the continuing importance of the university's public mission. Contributors focus on the research university and its effort to create new knowledge. They examine the implications of different administrative and policy decisions and the significance of various approaches to assessment and evaluation. Essays track the shifting relationship between public and private goods and purposes, such as whether student access should award individual achievement or function as an investment in social contribution, or whether scientific research should be treated as private intellectual property or as an open-access resource. Is it right for a university to serve the economic interests of private corporations, and if so, what are the limits of beneficiary pay? Instead of reducing these questions to elements of good and bad, this anthology empirically assesses how they play out in practice and sets a new standard for research on global institutional policy.
Synopsis
Higher education can be a vital public good, providing opportunities for students, informed citizens for democracy, and knowledge to improve the human condition. Yet public investment in universities is widely being cut, often because public purposes are neglected while private benefits dominate. In this collection, international scholars confront the realities of higher education and the future of its public and private agenda. Their perspectives illuminate the trajectory of education in the twenty-first century and the continuing importance of the university's public mission.
Reporting from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America, these scholars look at the different ways universities struggle to serve public and private agendas. Contributors examine the implications of changes in funding sources as well as amounts, different administrative and policy decisions, and the significance of various approaches to assessment and evaluation. They ask whether wider student access has in fact resulted in social mobility, whether more scientific research can be treated as an open-access resource, how changes in academic publishing change access to knowledge, and whether universities get full value from research sold to private corporations. At the same time, these chapters capture the confusion in the university sector over explaining academic work to a broader public and prioritizing its multiple purposes. Authors examine these practical challenges and the implications of different approaches in different contexts.