THERE was a time when universities remained proudly distant from the world of commerce. That all changed in the Thatcher era, when the cost of everything had to be known, while the value often became a secondary consideration. This philosophy still dominates today, particularly in America, where it was always intrinsic, but also in England.
In Scottish education, we have tended to emphasise a different approach. However, yesterday, Douglas Chalmers, president of the UCU Scotland lecturers’ union, warned of a future in which our universities became more like retail organisations, competing with each other on price, servicing markets, and treating students as customers who rate courses like Amazon reviews, focusing on inappropriate considerations or even (where fees are paid) value for money.
Large corporations wield undue influence over course content and research, and the idea of universities as bearers of civic values and dispassionate nurturers of intellect becomes consigned to history. That is a grim prognosis and that may well be the way the wind from the south is blowing.
We have no quarrel with universities generating revenue. But the idea education must not be an end in itself can also be applied to finance. The purpose of finance is to enable education. It is not education’s purpose to enable finance.
Like Mr Chalmers, we hold out some hope for maintaining a different course in Scotland. The Scottish Government has moved to more closely align the work of universities with their own economic priorities. And, as Mr Chalmers told colleagues, rejection of domestic fees and protection of the four-year degree betoken a contrasting approach here. The passing of higher education governance legislation last year also brought forward measures aimed at greater openness, participation and democracy on academic boards.
These moves were not universally popular, so it will be interesting to see if they can provide a bulwark against the prospect of universities becoming the equivalent of retail outlets.
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