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Private or Public: a relevant dilemma in Higher Education?

IAU 14th General Conference San Juan, Puerto Rico

November 2012

Sijbolt Noorda VSNU, The Netherlands

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privates and publics next to each other

•  in my view public institutions for Higher Education and privates are here to stay

•  they both will no doubt be undergoing changes (growing or shrinking), but I do not see one of them eat the other

•  together they offer a mixed picture in Higher Education: but not mixed the same way everywhere

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let’s first define our playing field

•  I shall be talking about public or private open access, stand alone institutions offering for-degree-programs in Higher Education

•  not about private in-company training courses and facilities, •  nor about public (semi-) government specific professional training programs

NB I use “public” and “private” in terms of ownership, legal position, operational authority and financing

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let’s then define some core characteristics of good Higher Education

•  good quality staff and processes (teaching and support)

•  reputation of being reliable in throughput (inspiring teaching & learning) & output (successful graduates: value-for-life, well received in the labour market)

•  combination of continuous service & dynamic responsive programming (offering qualifications in demand)

these require robust operations & budgets, stable recruiting & marketing, and high professional & academic standards

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let’s then discuss some typical cases of public Higher Education:

•  In country A public policies are very volatile, so are legal & budgetary conditions public Higher Education institutions sail like boats in unsteady waters

•  Country B is a miracle of political stability & welfare, and education is among the core values in public policy philosophy public Higher Education institutions stand like houses on the rocks

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let’s then discuss some typical cases of private Higher Education:

•  private institution Y was founded some 50 yrs ago on the endowment of a very rich industrial family; they preferred to invest in high quality Higher Education rather than collect works of art; the institution follows high academic standards and offers a scholarship scheme for students from disadvantaged backgrounds

•  corporate institution Z is a for-profit business, offering programmes in professional areas in high demand; it employs less than 10% of its teaching staff on a tenured base (hiring the others on short-term contracts) and annually pays nice dividends to its shareholders

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it appears it’s all about balancing well

•  both public and private institutions have their typical strengths and weaknesses, risks and opportunities

•  public institutions can be severely handicapped by an overload of legal regulation and national lawmaking (resulting in inefficient bureaucracies, limited staff hiring opportunities, very local political priorities), yet in general they are reliable and robust

•  private institutions can be driving profit making and delivering on demand too far (resulting in cheap service and easy cherry picking), yet in general they are more efficient and flexible

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it appears that there is no cheap way out

•  both public and private institutions must have a strong and steady financial base (given the nature of for-degree-Higher Education)

•  good quality staff is essential and relatively expensive

•  not-for-profit institutions need the financial backing of endowments or dedicated donors, for-profits must have long term investors

•  to ensure wide participation there must be a public or private scheme of fee wavering, loans and/or scholarships

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it appears that the relevant dilemma is not public or private, but rather quality or the lack of it

•  the very key factor defining good Higher Education is quality assurance, to make sure that students get what they deserve: a good quality degree

•  NB quality assurance is first or for all a matter of culture and strategy of the institutions

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footnote on quality

why is quality so important? education is a positional good

if (almost) everyone goes to college, the easiest / safest / best way to make a difference is to get access to a very high ranking school [remember: education is among other things a key selection instrument]

while on the other hand sub-standard degrees have very long legs

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recommendations

1.  in the interest of students and society (job market, economic and cultural development) public and private institutions (at least their leadership) should no longer neglect each other, but rather work together to contribute to fair and favorable conditions for all

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recommendations

2.  in the interest of students and society (job market, economic and cultural development) governments should make sure that the Higher Education landscape offers the required kind of variety in schools and programs

[one size doesn’t fit all qualifications and competences]

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footnote about the job market

Higher Education is preparing graduates not for its sake, but for future job markets:

if I am not mistaken we may need to take a very different view on our relationship to job markets and our role in co-creating job market developments [cfr health technology sector, school system, legal professions], in short: we must get more involved

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recommendations

3. “To curb market abuses, higher education sectors that rely on private institutions typically require more quality assurance than when public institutions are the dominant providers of higher education” (Arthur Hauptman)

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recommendations

4.  from good private institutions publics can learn how to be more cost-efficient, innovative in teaching & learning, responsive and service-oriented

and probably above all, how to make better use of open educational resources

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unsolved puzzles

•  link between academic research and higher education at for-profits

•  level playing field for public and private institutions in the same legal framework (some serious redefining to be done; commodification doesn’t offer the solution)

•  corporate use and re-use of material produced in public institutions (should one worry?)