Due to new technology, globalization and market forces, colleges are becoming increasingly competitive, according to a new study.
The Futures Project, a non-profit research group, found that “higher-education institutions have focused more and more on competing for students, funding and prestige.” According to the study, this results in an “erosion” of “mutual commitment that has, until now, ensured that higher education operated in service of the public that supports it.”
The study, consisting of focus groups made up of legislators, university presidents and faculty members, found several key areas of weakness.
The first weakness resulted from increased competition in the higher-education system. The study found that universities are either defending their places in the top tier or working their way up. This strays from the original purpose of many of the universities, which was first and foremost to serve a local area.
“Our historical mission is to serve the community around us, but going to a higher tier will shoot that mission out of the water,” said one president participating in the study.
The university presidents and the legislators also disagreed over the best way to guide institutions into the future. While the presidents wished for more autonomy and funding, many legislators criticized universities and colleges of being “highly conservative and resistant to any kind of change.”
The two groups also disagreed about how to judge the success of higher-level education. While the legislators supported assessments, many presidents doubted the practicality and benefit of assessing their institutions.
The study also found that in the competition to attract the best students, normal students are often ignored and “lost in the shuffle.”
“We have a model where we reward people who are already achieving because they can afford to, as opposed to helping people who could achieve if they got some help,” one legislator said.
University of Wisconsin professor of educational administration John Stampen said he was able to see the growing competition between colleges. He said many higher-education institutions are “becoming too consumer-oriented and not enough public-oriented” and that they often think of students as “consumers.”
Stampen suggested the competition-driven mindset is difficult to keep out of UW.
“Before, the mindset of the institution was to educate the people of the state, to take an ordinary person from an ordinary place and add value to them, but there has been a big increase in demand. A larger percentage of high school graduates go to college,” Stampen said. “A place with a good reputation is going to get harder to get into.”
UW English professor Heather Dubrow said she has also noticed a trend of “consumer-model students.”
However, Dubrow said UW has not strayed from serving the public in the face of heightening competition.
“There is a lot of concern for serving the public, a renewed emphasis on undergraduate education; there is a lot of interest in outreach. I don’t see the consumer model as having a bad effect on our relationship to the public,” Dubrow said.
UW junior Jordan Olson agreed and said the UW System does not leave less promising students behind.
“I can see where UW-Madison is going for the elite, but the whole UW System does a good job of reaching a wide variety of students, not just the elite,” said Olson.
UW senior Jessica Brumm had a different opinion.
“The university is focused on research and being a big name,” said Brumm. “The university should focus more on students and less on research and being No. 1.”
