Universities

Peter Jarvis. Universities and Corporate Universities: The Higher Learning Industry in Global Society (London: Kogan Page, 2001). 166p.

Peter Jarvis is Professor of Continuing Education at the University of Surrey and a distinguished authority in this field. In this work he attempts to analyse what constitutes a “real university” and whether the social changes which have impacted on traditional universities and the growth of other types of university represents a crisis and/or a failure to meet societal needs. Corporate universities have grown into a major business because the traditional university failed to meet the demands of corporate business for education and training. He stresses the need for universities to be true to their own identity in the face of such pressure.

Jarvis begins with a review of current pressures on higher education – changes in knowledge, in teaching method and even the role of the academic, the move from an elite to a mass system and constrained funding. This is followed by a review of the process of globalization and its impact on the nation state and universities. He moves on to consider how this has affected knowledge and influenced the creation of the knowledge society and the shift from teaching to learning as a model, including a swift history of the growth of universities and the concept of knowledge on the way. Then at the heart of the book is the description and contrast between traditional universities and the growing legion - now numbering over 1000 – of corporate universities and with budgets totalling over $52 billion in 1995. There are interesting reflections on how universities have themselves moved to more corporate or managerial governance, without seeing the need for proper training for their own staff.

In his discussion of the meaning of the term university he proposes a framework which will allow a comparison to be made between traditional and corporate universities and indeed within either group. Although complacency is always a threat he demonstrates that in the key features of accessibility to all groups, breadth of curricula, level of award, research and finally service to the community, traditional universities offer a richer set of deliverables than corporate universities which do however score more highly on the rhetoric of their claims. But traditional universities no longer enjoy a monopoly of supply and must ensure that their strengths are marketed and sold. It is also the case that universities may choose to differentiate the areas in which they sell their teaching with some concentrating on the traditional undergraduate market and others looking at higher degrees or different categories of learner.

The book claims to be thought provoking and is. It suggests that if not actually in crisis – although it often feels that way – universities are certainly at a crossroads. However the prospect of evolution rather than extinction does offer hope. This relatively brief overview of the state and position of universities possesses a clarity and insight which will assist those contemplating which path to follow to define the route for their own university. There is an excellent and substantial bibliography.

Derek Law

University of Strathclyde