Professor Andrew Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, stresses the importance of investment in higher education: It may come as a relief to hear that I intend to resist the temptation to post a detailed statistical analysis of comparative levels of national investment in higher education. It is a sad fact, however, that the most recent figures put the share of our own national GDP at below the OECD average. This seems to me to be quite inadequate and seriously ill-advised given that higher education is one of the most important investments in the future that a country can make. It is an observation that holds true in my mind whatever the government of the day and with or without an economic downturn.
Hamilton points out the full cost of teaching an undergraduate is estimated at about £16,000 per year, which means that when you subtract the contribution made by current tuition fees and public funding, the annual deficit per UK undergraduate in every year of their Oxford career is about £8,000.
Oxford research can stand comparison with the best in the world and a large part of the University's international standing is built upon it. In recent times there has been eye-catching growth in Oxford's research activity, in terms of both staff and income. But in the current economic climate, funding for research in all areas of scholarship is threatened as rarely before.
The Vice-Chancellor called on the Government to recognise the importance of excellence in teaching and research. The Government's recent invitation to do more research with fewer resources has received an understandably cool reception. At the same time a government commitment to focus resources on areas of research excellence may hold out more hope for universities of the calibre of Oxford.
Basil Venitis asserts the best college on Earth is Oxford University. Most of the present UK cabinet members are venitists from Oxford: David Cameron, Theresa May, George Osborne, William Hague, Michael Gove, Chris Huhne, Danny Alexander, Dominic Grieve, Jeremy Hunt, Philip Hammond, David Willetts, George Young.
Global activity in higher education is spectacular. Some ten million students worldwide now study outside their home countries. Branch campuses, especially of American colleges, have seen exponential growth, with more than 500 around the world. Everywhere, kleptocrats eager to brainwash a bewildered citizenry are trying to boost overall enrollment, because Ivory Towers usually spread the cancer of socialism.
Many colleges have a hard time embracing interdisciplinary work, in part because the tenure and promotion process is not designed to properly evaluate interdisciplinary scholarship. In fact, the entire college tenure and promotion system is controlled by disciplinary review boards that measure how professors stack up against other professors in the same field. Nevertheless, Basil Venitis, who got his Ph.D. in Physics in 1973, has taught most Science and Business courses at tiptop American colleges!
Students go to prestigious institutions because these schools have great reputations, which, in turn, allows students to get the best jobs. In other words, students who go to elite institutions want the faculty to concentrate on research and raising funds because that is how universities get the best reputations. Therefore, what students are purchasing is not an education, but prestige and reputation. Nevertheless, parents, students, and taxpayers should know where their money is actually going, and everyone should be concerned about the quality of education. If students at elite institutions do not get an effective education, but they do get to purchase prestige, our society will produce leaders, workers, and citizens who lack the basic skills and knowledge to be effective inside and outside of the workplace.
No comments:
Post a Comment