In your opinion, is higher education a type of business and if so, is that how it should be run?

Question

How does one run higher ed- as a business or as something completely different? What would be so wrong with approaching the administration of higher ed as one would running it as a business?

I am not asking whether higher ed should be run for profit, but whether higher ed institutions should hold their employees- faculty and staff- to the standards of the corporate world. Furthermore, the upper administration might be more open to innovation if they approached their positions as if the institution was a business. It seems that the upper administrators can easily embrace the status quo- how everything has always been done. New and radical ideas that could improve process and result in revenue are shot down without much consideration.

What is your take on this?

Answer 1

The higher education system is unique from a for profit business in lots of ways in my opinion. The standards in higher ed are different and should be I think because you aren't producing a product or even providing a service but rather communicating information necessary to understanding and mas try of a subject. In order to communicate that information the educator must have and maintain a mastery of the subject matter. That educator's focus has to remain on conveying up to date information in a clear concise and understandable manner to the student. Critical measures of success have to be bound to such metrics as 1) quality of academic research 2) subject matter expertise 3) peer standing 4) student evaluation. It shouldn't revolve around revenue generation or cost control metric as a for profit business would be measured. This would detract from the pursuit of knowledge and the focus on educating students.

I hated the cost of college education but at the same time I liked the quality of learning and the resources available. I also think the laid-back free thinking culture that exists in universities is a really important part of the experience and would be lost if corporate culture was superimposed.

Answer 2

i think that higher ed is already run as a business. for example you go a car dealership and you give them money and they give you a car; likewise you give money to the higher ed institution and they give you or should try to give you knowledge. even thought knowledge is an concept and not real like a car the idea behind both is that you are getting a service for your money just like what a business is supposed to do. another way of looking at higher ed would be as a mini-government or a mini-town. by this i mean that a higher ed institution is a multi-layer system; at the top you have the administration under which you have faculty under which you have students. the students like the general public spend money most of which goes to the administration but some go to different stores (there is a better word that i could use here but it slips my mind at the moment) the stores have to pay the administration to stay on their property. and if you were to compare the government and higher ed institutions i am sure that you would find more similarities.

Answer 3

I think it already IS run as a business, but a very greedy and non-customer oriented business. They have no p.r. towards their clients, the students, and make a bunch of rules up for people that are PAYING them, instead of asking them what would make it easier to attend, meet obligations, cure little hurdles, so that the student/customer can actually succeed when life is throwing insurmountable obstacles in their way. Some of them I have dealt with include rent and dependants, transportation, a stalker and rape - which caused me to totally quit school. If I had more of their sympathy, I could have withdrawn with no penalties and come back when my head was together and started where I left off. Instead, they took my money and penalized me, even after showing them a police report and going through the stress of explaining this to them as well in a letter. Also, attendance needs to be less strict, especially for those working and supporting a family while they're going to school, or else provide full expense-coverage scholarships for single parent students, so they have the same advantages of those who live in the dorms and don't have to worry about paying rent.

Answer 4

The University of Phoenix. is run as a profit driven business. It is not a research university so the university doesn't contribute to new ideas. Also, the facilitators are not professors, instructors, or lecturers. They just make sure that a student doesn't plagairize. The lessons are written by the university and the facilitators must follow the syllabus.

The University is not rated very highly.

Answer 5

This is a tough question -- because in some aspects it is, while in others it is not.

Most of the best business schools are run more like business than like colleges. They offer services to their MBA students -- but also offer short continuing education classes that keep the faculty abreast of business, offer a service to the people who will be hiring their students, and raise cash for the program.

But many departments -- particularly at state schools -- are much too bureaucratic and are little fiefdoms.

Answer 6

I believe it should be run with the same attitudes as, say, a nonprofit organization. Higher education serves a significant purpose. Sure, we pay them for it, but their service is crucial to our development and they should be (if they aren't already) focusing on how to best assist us for the future. I mean, the more we learn and the better we can integrate into the real world, doesn't it help everyone? Doesn't it help society as a whole? Maybe I'm speaking as an idealist and not as a realist, but I think this vision can be achieved. It should already have been. Meh.

Answer 7

I'm a plumer,last year our business grossed over $250,000.00 and we netted over $147,000.00, i have 2 employees and my salary after expenses was $79,643.00 minus tax-- I did some plumbling for a a female teacher at the local college and she offered to pay me with sex because she said i was too expesive,after the sex i filed a mechanics lein on her for payment , so in court the judge threw her case out because she had no reciet for her services ---so you have to do some research b/4 making a decesion and be willing to admit that a little hard work will pay big returns\\\\\\ the mottot on our trucks is " YOUR s @ @ t is MY bread and butter"--------