Failing Universities
How Higher Education Became a Commodity and What We Can Do About It
Howard Karger author David Stoesz author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:28th Nov '24
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Examines American higher education and proposes a forward-looking agenda for structural reform that is less expensive and more educationally sound than the current marketized model.
Colleges and universities were once places where students came to learn, experts, intellectuals, and others came to teach, and where knowledge was created. Today, America’s higher education system is severely compromised by commodification and corporatization, which have transformed higher education into a marketplace. This book examines the effects of these transformations, providing a comprehensive critique of the problems the sector faces.
It outlines how higher education’s commodification has impacted areas including affordability, access, waste, hierarchal administrative structures, faculty governance, the college sports industrial complex, and status and social mobility based on institutional prestige. The authors explore alternative policy solutions and examples of systems of higher education that are both effective and cost-effective. They propose a forward-looking agenda for structural reform that is less expensive and more educationally sound than the current model. Emphasising social cohesion, sustainability, a respect for diversity and an understanding of democracy and democratic principles, Failing Universities offers alternative solutions for US higher education to return to its basic mission.
This is a must-read for those troubled by the current state of higher education in the United States. Following their detailed and penetrating analysis of the processes of commodification and corporatization impacting upon American universities and colleges, the authors present an inspiring blueprint for educational reform and revitalization. -- Michael Seltzer, Professor Emeritus, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
As this eye-opening book clearly demonstrates, in a country where GDP is the measure of national success, and maximum income the measure of personal success, our universities are unsurprisingly abandoning the humanities and critical thinking for the values of Midas. Santayana warned that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. May this well-researched volume help us turn the Titanic of higher education around. -- John De Graaf, Co-Author of "What’s The Economy For, Anyway?" (Bloomsbury, 2011)
Failing Universities is a timely, important, and controversial work that is broad, scholarly, and databased. Written by experts, it reveals how universities have changed in their administration, funding, operations, and expenses and, significantly, suggests useful ways of getting them back on track to their original educational mission. -- Steven Rose, Professor Emeritus, George Mason University, USA
ISBN: 9781350383814
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
248 pages