How College Became a Commodity

Market-based thinking is at the heart
of how academe thinks of itself.
That’s a travesty.

"Since the 1970s, and especially since the 1990s, research universities have become major economic actors, not only in market-oriented competition for students but in the commodification of ever greater swaths of their activities, including faculty research. Tightening relationships with industry allows businesses to capture and monetize the intellectual property created by publicly funded research. These changes have been accompanied by major shifts in administrative philosophy, such as the application of metrics to scholars’ and departments’ 'performance' — a direct borrowing from corporate-management fads."