Guest Column: What Entrepreneurs Can Teach Academia
Over the past year in Texas, we’ve heard a vigorous debate about our public universities. Critics of Texas higher education have suggested a set of reforms to our public universities that aim to bring insights from corporations to the management of a university system.
Many in the academic community bristle at drawing on an understanding of the business world to frame the mission of a university.
I believe that business has much to teach academia, but only if the discussion is cast properly. Unfortunately, these critics have taken the wrong approach by using corporations as a metaphor for universities ...
Comments (14)
T D
Nice column, though I think its argument actually calls for reordering the subtitle.
Frances Demps via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not everything that benefits society has to be a money-maker.
Philip Harris
There still needs to be a focus on increasing access to these great universities. If tuition costs continue to skyrocket, then debt will quickly become a very real problem for college graduates, one that might deter the best and brightest students from adding to these top tier university atmospheres. Thinking long term is important, and crucial to that long term picture is maintaining an affordable college experience in Texas without sacrificing quality.
T D
Phil, you left out "unsustainable" and "transparency."
Stick to the script!
Jennifer E.
Phil, UT and A&M admit thousands of students each year. They are already at capacity. I thought you were against adding more faculty and building more buildings?
What we need is better state funding. It is unsustainable for the state to balance its budgets on the backs of students.
Lauren Pierce
Universities are businesses and should start spending their funds as such.
Longhorn 2004
Universities are not businesses, Lauren.
T D
Lauren, if UT was run like a business all residents would be paying outstate tuition right now--which is obviously the going rate for a UT education. (It's three times as much as resident tuition).
As Longhorn2004 points out, UT is not a business. It's an institution mandated by the Texas Constitution, and supposed to be "of the first class." Generations of Texans originally supported it to provide a public good.
You and Phil are paying more because politicians, your parents, and grandparents want you to.
PeggyV
Professor Markman is clearly supporting the staus quo at UT. Many parents, students and taxpayers are appropariately calling for reforms which make the university more transparent, more accessible and more affordable. Prof Markman can stay in his ivory tower and proclaim all is well, but it is not. UT has only so many slots for students, and with a four-year graduation rate of only 52%, the University should be doing more to help free slots for more students. Every government entity should be subject to scrutiny and held accountable. UT is no exception.
Longhorn 2004
Yeah, PeggyV, your comment represents the status quo: the same old wrong-headed criticisms based not on facts but misinformation. Your status quo approach to the problems of higher education in Texas are not helping anyone at all.
The fact is that the state's inadequate support for our universities is unsustainable. It is morally wrong to balance the state budget on the backs of hardworking students. Perry can stay in his 10K a month ivory tower rental home and ignore the problem (or go jet-setting using our money), but the status quo is unacceptable. Parents, students, and faculty have all called upon the state to alleviate their problems, but Perry won't listen.
The 4 year graduation rate at UT is the best in the state. Why don't you try to improve the rates at other schools? You act as if the UT administration can wave a wand and get more students to graduate earlier. Students are responsible for their education; they aren't kids. And it doesn't help when they come to college unprepared by K-12 (which Perry is de-funding). Taking remedial courses in college doesn't help 4 year college graduation rates.
The fact of the matter is that UT is transparent and accountable already. All of its numbers are online.
Jennifer E.
PeggyV,
Your comments are indeed the same thing over and over again. Do you have anything new to add to the dialogue other than falsely claiming that universities aren't transparent? In the time it took to write (or copy and paste) your scripted comment, you could have googled UT's budgets and yearly reports. You could also look up what the university has long been doing to help students graduate on time.
It's not surprising that a critic of research refuses to take the time to research these matters.
Your scripted, status quo analysis is really inadequate for the complex problems faced by universities in Texas.
David Spratt
The best education in the world will do you no good if there are no jobs. Education should be run like a business. They are in the business of educating, tangible results are required. Maybe some of the problem is students are led towards " What to think." Witness the liberal leanings of most universities and Professors. Incredible how ignorant people are today who supposedly have a " higher education." Witness it on Jay Leno's Jaywalking segment. I learned things in the sixth grade college graduates have no clue about.
Jennifer E.
A college run like a business does not guarantee a job if the jobs aren't there.
At the end of the day, students themselves are responsible for their own education. They can breeze by with a degree in animal science, take easy classes, and avoid classes that emphasize writing and research. Just look at Perry. Read the book "Academically Adrift." It places the blame at the feet of the rather unchallenging business and education major that so many students choose by default. I personally agree with that assessment.
davidwenger
I'll respond to some of the critical comments posted here. I'm an administrator at the business school at UT Austin. I can assure you that any of our 6,000 students would fare well on Jaywalking with Jay Leno. C'mon, let's get serious. They represent the top 2-3% of high school graduates in Texas, they are scooped up by employers, many launch their own companies while still in school, and they are tremendously excited to be admitted to a school that is priced as the second most affordable school among the top-20 undergraduate institutions ranked by Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Do you know that many of our students that don't graduate in four years have gone on to get their Master in Professional Accounting degree, which delays their receipt of their BBA until five years, when they graduate with both a BBA and an MPA at the same time.
When I see comments that reference the "liberal leaning" of the university, it suggests to me that this is not a discussion about costs or outcomes, but simply a political attack. Too bad, because if the rhetoric could be toned down, and if critics would take the time to educate themselves beyond talking points, there is opportunity for progress.
By the way, I am happy to host any individual who wants to come onto campus and see what is actually going on here. My twitter profile is @davidwenger. Email is david.wenger(at)mccombs.utexas.edu.