1. Private or Public:
a relevant dilemma in Higher Education?
IAU 14th General Conference
San Juan, Puerto Rico
November 2012
1 Sijbolt Noorda
VSNU, The Netherlands
2. 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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3. 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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4. 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
4 standards
5. 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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6. 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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7. 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
7and flexible
8. 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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9. 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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10. 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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11. 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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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. 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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16. 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?)
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