Thu, 05 Jun 2003 16:16:04 GMT

Are the universities an instrument?. It is now taken for granted in the policy making culture in Australia that our higher education institutions are, and should be, an instrument for wealth creation. The purpose of deploying the instrument, say the utilitarians, is to ensure comparative or competitive advantage so as to enhance the wealth of the nation vis-a-vis other nations. Things are not so cut and dried in the UK. Whether the universites are an instrument or not is still being debated in Britain. Under the Blair Government the liberal state says universities are an instrument. Thus, Charles Clarke, the UK Education Secretary, stated this position in a recent speech at University College Worcester. He says: “The other day I heard a vice-chancellor argue that the purpose of a university was the unfettered pursuit of truth and excellence. Another distinguished academic wrote a paper in which she argued that we should get back to a… [philosophy.com]

yes, but the problem is that people don't actually understand what about universities produces wealth. many universities are orienting toward the quick buck mentality instead of the growth of cultural capital, which is a slower strategy but more successful over history as technics and investment in them comes and goes, but cultural capital doesn't….