Universities the world over love symbols from medieval scholastic garb at degree ceremonies to the owls and scrolls of scholastic badge. But for many universities, especially in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, a more accurate emblem would include slummy buildings, dog eared books and demoralized dons. That's why Britain's government is next week risking defeat in the House of Commons to bring more private money into the country's universities'--and why European and developing countries now busy expanding higher education need to think hard about how much government involvement is good for universities.
41)__________. America's flourishing universities exemplify the former Europe's the latter. Britain's government wants to move towards the American modal. The subject of next week' s rebellion is a bill that would allow English universities Scotland and Wales are different to charge up to 3000 pounds (5460 dollars) in tuition fees instead of the current flat rate 1125. Students will borrow the money through a state run loan scheme and pay it back once they are earning enough.
42)__________. But it reflects an important shift in thinking.
First that the new money universities need should come from graduates rather than the general taxpayer. Second and most crucially it abandons the egalitarian assumption that all universities are equally deserving.
That is commendable just because a course is cheap does not mean it is worthless and the existence of costly ones is not in itself a sign of iniquitous social division. Yet old thinking has deep roots. Bandying phrases such as "excellence for all" and "education for the many not the few", politicians, especially left wing ones, want to dap the university educated label on ever more people regardless of merit cost or practicality.
43)__________. It humiliates the talented but disadvantaged whose success is then devalued and it infuriates the talented who are not deemed underprivileged enough and who feel their merits ignored and it makes universities do a job they are bound to be bad at.
Public funding is addictive and the withdrawal symptoms are painful.44)__________. Inflated tuition fees are a big worry and alumni preference looks unfair. But overall America's system looks sustainable in a way that the Old World's does not.
In short the model to strive for is varied institutions charging varied fees. Not all courses need last three years or bring a full honors degree.45)__________.
It is better to do some things well rather than everything indifferently. It is because politicians have forgotten that some of the world's oldest universities risk a future that is a lot less glorious than their past.
A. Some will be longer and deeper; others shorter and shallower. Some universities may specialize as teaching only institutions like America' s liberal arts colleges. Others may want to concentrate mainly on research. All must have the right to select their intake.
B. Universities can indeed give the disadvantaged a leg up—but they will do it much better if the state stands hack. Micromanaging university admissions as the British government has been trying to do on grounds of class with targets quotas fines and strictures risks the same consequences as similar American experiments based on racial preference.
C. Alison Wolf a British economist terms this the "two aspirin good five aspirin better" approach to university finance. It is deeply flawed. In reality, there is no proven connection between spending on universities and prosperity, nor can there be.
D. But as British dons and politicians straggle with these issues and their European counterparts ponder whether one day they might just have to do something similar, the message for emerging economies like China and India who are investing heavily in their own systems of higher education is clear—avoid a nationalized and uniform system and go for one that is diverse and independent America's universities have their problems.
E. It is a very limited start faced with sweeteners for students from poor backgrounds. The best universities worry that the maximum fee should be many times higher.
F. Indeed, faced with aging populations Britain and most European countries arguably should be encouraging their young people to start earning earlier in their lives rather than later.
G. There are broadly two models for running universities. They can be autonomous institutions mainly dependent on private income such as fees, donations and investments or they can be state financed and as a result, state run.