Administrative Bloat In Higher Education

Author : J. David Johnson
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1527555313
Total Pages : 159 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Administrative Bloat in Higher Education written by J. David Johnson and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a detailed examination of the processes that lead to unsustainable growth of nonessential personnel in the modern university. It explores administrative bloat, a major contributor to the rising costs of a college education, comprehensively detailing its development through the examination of case studies. After defining bloat and considering many of the factors that contribute to it (and its associated consequences), a number of case studies are used to elaborate and expand on the themes developed in the initial chapter. The first case focuses on the complex infrastructures being developed to promote the strategically ambiguous focus on student success. Universities have developed a number of information dissemination programs in recent years. One such program that is also explicitly targeted at the commercialization of university research is the development of technology transfer offices. Relatedly, the next case focuses on the institutional pressures brought by various stakeholders to emulate the success of the famed Research Triangle in North Carolina by developing technology incubators and research and development parks that promote entrepreneurship. The final case study focuses on the promise of technology, particularly in the form of distance learning. The final chapter summarizes the book and addresses some more general issues, asking questions such as: What is success? What are the ethical concerns raised by bloat? How do they relate to the individual interests? What manifest and latent functions does it serve?

Author : Benjamin Ginsberg
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 019978244X
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Fall of the Faculty written by Benjamin Ginsberg and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2011-08-12 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until very recently, American universities were led mainly by their faculties, which viewed intellectual production and pedagogy as the core missions of higher education. Today, as Benjamin Ginsberg warns in this eye-opening, controversial book, "deanlets"--administrators and staffers often without serious academic backgrounds or experience--are setting the educational agenda.The Fall of the Faculty examines the fallout of rampant administrative blight that now plagues the nation's universities. In the past decade, universities have added layers of administrators and staffers to their payrolls every year even while laying off full-time faculty in increasing numbers--ostensibly because of budget cuts. In a further irony, many of the newly minted--and non-academic--administrators are career managers who downplay the importance of teaching and research, as evidenced by their tireless advocacy for a banal "life skills" curriculum. Consequently, students are denied a more enriching educational experience--one defined by intellectual rigor. Ginsberg also reveals how the legitimate grievances of minority groups and liberal activists, which were traditionally championed by faculty members, have, in the hands of administrators, been reduced to chess pieces in a game of power politics. By embracing initiatives such as affirmative action, the administration gained favor with these groups and legitimized a thinly cloaked gambit to bolster their power over the faculty.As troubling as this trend has become, there are ways to reverse it. The Fall of the Faculty outlines how we can revamp the system so that real educators can regain their voice in curriculum policy.

Author : Robert Kelchen
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421424738
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Higher Education Accountability written by Robert Kelchen and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with the earliest efforts to regulate schools, the author reveals the rationale behind accountability and outlines the historical development of how US federal and state policies, accreditation practices, private-sector interests, and internal requirements have become so important to institutional success and survival

Author : Philip G. Altbach
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801880353
Total Pages : 572 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century written by Philip G. Altbach and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2005-02-25 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition explores current issues of central importance to the academy: leadership, accountability, access, finance, technology, academic freedom, the canon, governance, and race. Chapters also deal with key constituencies -- students and faculty -- in the context of a changing academic environment.

Author : William J. Bennett
Publisher : Thomas Nelson
ISBN 13 : 159555422X
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Is College Worth It? written by William J. Bennett and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many students, a bachelor's degree is considered the golden ticket to a more financially and intellectually fulfilling life. But the disturbing reality is that debt, unemployment, and politically charged pseudo learning are more likely outcomes for many college students today than full-time employment and time-honored knowledge. This raises the question: is college still worth it? Who is responsible for debt-saddled, undereducated students, and how do future generations of students avoid the same problems? In a time of economic uncertainty, what majors and schools will produce competitive graduates? Is College Worth It? uses personal experience, statistical analysis, and real-world interviews to provide answers to some of the most troubling social and economic problems of our time.

Author : Todd J. Zywicki
Publisher : Cato Institute
ISBN 13 : 1948647052
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Unprofitable Schooling written by Todd J. Zywicki and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most economies advance by simultaneously decreasing costs and increasing quality. Unfortunately, when it comes to higher education, this has been turned on its head. Costs keep rising while quality declines. How has this happened? What can be done? This exceptional volume looks at the issues facing higher education from the perspective of both economics and history. Each chapter explores how the lessons learned from market competition in other sectors of the economy can be applied to higher education in order to bring about innovation, improved quality, and lower costs. The opening section offers a history of for-profit education before the Morrill Act—the federal legislation that funded land-grant universities; reviews the Act’s impact; and concludes with an exploration of federal student aid and how it prevents new funding options from entering the market. Section two examines higher education as it stands today—what is driving up college prices; tenure; administrative bloat; and university governance. And, the concluding third section shows how robust competition in higher education can be energized, and takes a deep look at for-profit vs. non-profit institutions. Unprofitable Schooling provides a sober and informative assessment of the state of higher education, critically covering historical assumptions, increasing government involvement, reflexive aversion to profit, and other, maybe unexpected, conclusions.

Author : Kevin Carey
Publisher : Riverhead Books
ISBN 13 : 1594634041
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The End of College written by Kevin Carey and published by Riverhead Books. This book was released on 2016-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The rise of the internet, new technologies, and free and open higher education are radically altering college forever, and this book explores the paradigm changes that will affect students, parents, educators and employers as it explains how we can take advantage of the new opportunities ahead"--

Author : Jason Brennan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190846305
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Cracks in the Ivory Tower written by Jason Brennan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academics extol high-minded ideals, such as serving the common good and promoting social justice. Universities aim to be centers of learning that find the best and brightest students, treat them fairly, and equip them with the knowledge they need to lead better lives. But as Jason Brennan and Phillip Magness show in Cracks in the Ivory Tower, American universities fall far short of this ideal. At almost every level, they find that students, professors, and administrators are guided by self-interest rather than ethical concerns. College bureaucratic structures also often incentivize and reward bad behavior, while disincentivizing and even punishing good behavior. Most students, faculty, and administrators are out to serve themselves and pass their costs onto others. The problems are deep and pervasive: most academic marketing and advertising is semi-fraudulent. To justify their own pay raises and higher budgets, administrators hire expensive and unnecessary staff. Faculty exploit students for tuition dollars through gen-ed requirements. Students hardly learn anything and cheating is pervasive. At every level, academics disguise their pursuit of self-interest with high-faluting moral language. Marshaling an array of data, Brennan and Magness expose many of the ethical failings of academia and in turn reshape our understanding of how such high power institutions run their business. Everyone knows academia is dysfunctional. Brennan and Magness show the problems are worse than anyone realized. Academics have only themselves to blame.

Author : Steven Brint
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691182663
Total Pages : 504 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Two Cheers for Higher Education written by Steven Brint and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the years 1980-2015, Brint details the trajectory of American universities, which was influenced by evolving standards of disciplinary professionalism, market-driven partnerships, and the goal of social inclusion.

Author : Robert Zemsky
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780813536248
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Remaking the American University written by Robert Zemsky and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At one time, universities educated new generations and were a source of social change. Today colleges and universities are less places of public purpose, than agencies of personal advantage. Remaking the American University provides a penetrating analysis of the ways market forces have shaped and distorted the behaviors, purposes, and ultimately the missions of universities and colleges over the past half-century. The authors describe how a competitive preoccupation with rankings and markets published by the media spawned an admissions arms race that drains institutional resources and energies. Equally revealing are the depictions of the ways faculty distance themselves from their universities with the resulting increase in the number of administrators, which contributes substantially to institutional costs. Other chapters focus on the impact of intercollegiate athletics on educational mission, even among selective institutions; on the unforeseen result of higher education's "outsourcing" a substantial share of the scholarly publication function to for-profit interests; and on the potentially dire consequences of today's zealous investments in e-learning. A central question extends through this series of explorations: Can universities and colleges today still choose to be places of public purpose? In the answers they provide, both sobering and enlightening, the authors underscore a consistent and powerful lesson-academic institutions cannot ignore the workings of the markets. The challenge ahead is to learn how to better use those markets to achieve public purposes.