Levy, Daniel C. (1998) “Public policy and private higher education” in International Higher Education v. 12, no. 5 (www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/News12/text5.html)
Issues at play – what should be done about elements relating to:
(1) Accreditation
(2) Quality
(3) Social responsibility
(4) Public policy itself – more broadly
Levy refers to the conference in May 1998 held at BC, focusing on private higher education. Aside from treating private higher education qualitatively well and qualitatively better than it has been treated previously – i.e. being open about it – no consensus was reached at the conference on specifics as to what steps to take.
Levy notes that even those who are supporters of private higher education, they want different things from the effort. The consensus:
p. 2: “For the broader society private higher education should: fulfill public missions and progressive social missions; save primary and secondary education; promote sustainable development; fight poverty; serve the job market; and build civil society. For higher education itself, it should: enhance academic quality, or maintain it while expanding access and holding public costs in check; innovate; serve as models for public higher education reform; and promote a choice and competition that in turn links back to higher quality.”
Levy does get at the question of whether private higher education is really distinct from public higher education in any sense other than who pays directly for it.
Is higher education, regardless of its public-private context, nevertheless a public good or not?
