Higher Education (2)

In its series on higher education, The Economist is very critical of European universities by comparison to American universities, calling the former “a mess”. The core of the problem, they say, is the (far too great) role of the state. They claim that universities should be set free from the state.

American universities get their funding from a variety of different sources, not just government but also philanthropists, businesses and, of course, the students themselves while European ones are still largely state-funded.

America spends twice as much of its GDP on higher education as Europe does. (1.1% of the GDP I Europe, compared with 2.7% in the United States.)

Wealth is definitely a factor explaining the difference but the Economist also identifies organization and competition as other major elements:

Competition, for instance makes it impossible for American universities to rest on their laurels.

Organization : the American-style organization gives more flexibility to each institution and the power of the presidents is a counterbalance to the power of the faculty.

One of the most interesting point they make, in my opinion, is the principle that it is all right to be useful. Universities can probably not afford to be ivory-towers in today's world. As a result, the American academic world, contrary to its French counterpart has forged stronger links with the private companies.

American universities then earn more than $1 billion a year in royalties and licence fees. More than 170 universities have “business incubators” of some sort, and dozens operate their own venture funds

The Economist suggests that what is necessary is to free universities to run their internal affairs, and they ask the following question : how can French universities, for example, compete for talent with their American rivals when professors are civil servants? A good but highly politically sensitive question in France. Besides, I’m not sure The Economist has the answer either. The American "model" cannot necessarily apply to "Old Europe". And as we shall in a subsequent posting, American universities have problems of their own.