The Value of a For-Profit University.
Can an institution that seeks to turn a profit really be a university? The former head of one Canadian university thinks so.

Here's an announcement from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, in Halifax, Nova Scotia:

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"The first university that deliberately moves to private not-for-profit status would have a major marketing advantage in Canada and first-mover status for corporate and private philanthropy," says Kelvin Ogilive, former President and Chancellor of Acadia University in From Private U to Public U: An Atlantic Canadian Opportunity. He calls it an opportunity whose time has come, and now is the time to move.

In From Public U to Private U, Ogilvie points out that private universities tend to have a curriculum carefully organized to meet their clientsÂ?, that is the studentsÂ?, demands and needs, rather than leaving such matters to the "whims of faculty". He says CanadaÂ?s public universities are sheltered from accountability, because provincial governments feel obliged to ensure their continued operation rather than allow such institutions to fail, regardless of the satisfaction of their students or the quality of the education offered. "Many universities seem to be run more for the benefit of faculty than of students," Ogilvie says.

Ogilvie, who spent ten years as head of Acadia University, writes:

For profits have other advantages as well. The performance and discipline of academic staff in the classroom tend to be much better scrutinized than in public universities, where administrators are often reluctant to set foot in the classroom and where vigorous labour unions typically influence the terms of employment. Tenure is also far less common in for-profit institutions, which prefer to offer stock options or share-purchase agreements that permit professors to have a real ownership interest in their universities. Moreover, in for-profit institutions, governance devolves shared responsibility in line with market objectives and sound management practice, whereas public universities consider shared governance a sacred part of all aspects of operation Â? meaning that the faculty interest is the default position.

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The report, in a PDF format, is here. (permalink)