The Corporate University Model - Essay Example

The Corporate Model Universities are without doubt centers of knowledge and excellence. Universities as institutions of higher learning have through the course of time demonstrated resilience in the face of change, some of which has been radical. In most cases, they have stuck to their original dispensation, that is, to provide solutions to life issues through providing higher education that is research based. However, universities, especially public universities, are now facing a threat of corporatization to this traditional mode. This essay will discuss the proposition that the corporate university model is adversely affecting teaching and scholarship in the arts and social sciences. Firstly, it will discuss the traditional set up of universities, and then proceed to examine the corporate model and its effects. Universities, like other institutions, further a certain objective or a number of goals. The traditional university has always kept its focus on improving academic standards, providing solutions to life issues through research and providing quality higher education to persons who seek to pursue the same. Universities, more so the public ones, have also always had a public interest in their mandates. For instance, a university would conduct research into a certain issue that has arisen in the public, such as an unknown disease, with a view of finding solutions. The public interest that universities have had is what has distinctly defined public universities over other institutions, giving them an unmatched institutional character1. It is important to note that public universities have also embraced the not for profit model in their operations. This means that the policies of these institutions have not been to generate profits from its revenue streams but rather to use their revenue streams to provide value to academic work. This is also an institutional character that has set apart public universities from other institutions, mostly business and profit oriented. Universities have also enjoyed autonomy in all its functions, especially in teaching, award of scholarships and research2. Having briefly looked at some of the features that characterized the traditional setting of the public universities, it is pertinent that we highlight the changes that universities today are facing. In the world today, every way of life is continuously adopting an urbanized culture that is more focused on viewing everything as an enterprise that needs to yield more revenue against a backdrop of cost cutting mechanisms. Across the universe, there has been a rapid increase in the concept of consumerism and commoditization3. This is to say that entirely everything is being seen as a commodity. Even the family model has changed, with couples ensuring that they get the minimal number of children who are sustainable. Each partner strives to earn more income while ensuring that costs at home are kept at a minimal. This in general terms can be referred to as corporatization. Public universities have not been spared of this wave. There has been an unwavering and increased influence for public universities to embrace the corporate model that calls for accountability, minimization of costs, and the pursuit for opportunities and ventures that not only generate an income, but also a profit4. Scholars and other intellectuals have described these changes as a litmus test for these learning institutions. So what exactly is the corporate model or corporatization as it is commonly referred? The corporate model is a plan that desires to employ resources and make the best use of those resources in the pursuit of business opportunities, generate revenue or income, cut costs while pursuing these opportunities, and most importantly generate profit. The corporate model also places an emphasis on accountability of every resource that has been employed. It seeks to maximize returns on investment while ensuring that the cost of generating such a return is kept at the bare minimum5. The commercialism that today’s society has embraced has widely been informed by the corporate model notion. The corporate model differs greatly from the non-profit model that institutions such as mission hospitals, non-governmental organizations, and hitherto public universities pursue. The non-profit model usually works for the greater good of the public and is not profit oriented. The single most value that the non-profit model pursues is to better the lives of the people being targeted by its interventions. The corporate model has rapidly been adopted in many organizations today even those which once preferred the non-profit model. Public universities have also withstood the worst of corporatization. This has given birth to the corporate university model. There has been undue influence from the business community, a section of scholars, and government bureaucrats to have the public university system adopt the corporate model of operation. This influence has been necessitated by the perception that there is massive wastage of public resources in the provision of higher education and thus the need to have a mechanism for accountability. The government and corporate businesses usually disburse millions of dollars to universities in aid of teaching, research, and scholarship programs6. In light of the perception that there is misappropriation of resources, these organizations have called for accountability, with the set up of a corporate model being one of the desired expected changes. This, however, has not been the only factor. Commercialism has greatly influenced the society with every venture having a profit motive attached to it. This rapidly growing commercial influence has been cited as the major factor for the corporatization of higher education that is being observed in institutions of higher learning7. The corporate university model is not a very new phenomenon. What is perhaps viewed as new is the magnitude to which it has spread to all functions of the university. The corporate model has been practiced by universities before, but it was only restricted to very few areas such as athletics whereby businesses and other corporations would sponsor sporting events and even market such events on behalf of the university8. However, the corporate model is now enforced throughout the whole university. It calls for universities to act, in all manners possible, like corporations. The model expects universities to embrace efficiency, cut costs, and pursue alternative sources of income. In essence, universities are supposed to operate like profit making entities. They are supposed to ensure that resources that have been employed to drive its mandate are not only effective in their work, but are also efficient. Efficiency ensures that every penny is accounted for9. The corporate university model has widely been advocated for. However, it has adversely affected teaching and scholarship programs in all faculties with the arts and social sciences departments being the greatest casualty. The corporate university model has been accused of going overboard in neglecting the liberal arts and social sciences disciplines. Corporations, besides the government, are the greatest sponsors of activities such as sports and research in universities. Corporate institutions that are in the telecommunications sector or in the human and natural sciences sectors are the ones that mostly sponsor academic programs. Sponsorship arrangements usually have a string of conditions tied to it10. These corporate bodies will, for instance, expect that students undergoing their scholarship-sponsored programs be attached to them after completion. This ensures them of a return on investment. Therefore, there is a tendency for the universities to collaborate more with organizations that will offer more funding to faculties offering human and other sciences that are perceived as marketable. This results to the arts and social sciences being deprived of funds to further their teaching and scholarship programs. Research that is funded and influenced by corporations also tends to have flaws in knowledge development and objectivity as results are normally influenced to favor certain desirable outcomes11. The other way that the arts and social sciences have adversely been affected revolves around the allocation of tenure positions to lecturers and professors. The corporate university model, unlike the traditional university model, seeks to cut costs in its operations. In the allocations of these tenures, the non-tenure-track faculty is most preferred because it is less costly to the university’s management compared to the tenure-track. Non-tenure track faculty are either part time or full time teaching positions that lack a defined tenure and are thus considered insecure. Universities, in application of the corporate model, usually assign arts and social sciences classes lecturers who are on non-tenure track12. These instructors also receive lesser pay compared to their colleagues on tenure-track. This is because the humanities courses are considered less valuable to the universities compared to other courses such as natural sciences. This adversely affects the morale of the course instructors and consequently the quality of education. In conclusion, universities have long maintained a position that is geared towards the establishment of academia through elaborate teaching, research and scholarship programs. However, commercialism that is rampant in society today has also infiltrated the university system resulting to these institutions embracing a corporate university model. This model works the same way as in a corporate institution, allocating resources in sectors where results are more visible. The arts and social sciences have therefore been largely affected, as the business world driven by corporate does not view them as significant. Therefore, they are starved of funding. The corporate university model thus adversely affects teaching and scholarship programs in the arts and social sciences. Bibliography Brint, Steven. The Future of the City of Intellect: The Changing American University. London: Stanford University Press, 2002. Giroux, Henry. Beyond the Corporate University: Culture and Pedagogy in the New Millennium. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. Hess, Stephane. Choice Modeling: The State-of-the-Art and the State-of-Practice: Proceedings from the Inaugural International Choice Modeling Conference. New York: Emerald Group Publishing, 2010. Jarvis, Peter. Universities and Corporate Universities: The Higher Learning Industry in Global Society. New York: Psychology Press, 2001 Khan, Mohammad. Diverse Contemporary Issues Facing Business Management Education. Pennsylvania: IGI Global, 2014. Mattson, Kevin. Steal this University: The Rise of the Corporate University and the Academic Labor Movement. New York: Psychology Press, 2003. Rudy, Alan. Universities in the Age of Corporate Science: The UC Berkeley-Novartis Controversy. Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 2007. Read More