Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (Paperback)

by Derek Bok (Author) "Toward the end of the twentieth century, American universities-with their stately buildings, tree-lined quadrangles, and slightly disheveled, often-preoccupied professors found themselves in an enviable position..." (more)
Key Phrases: campus officials, financial conflicts, academic values, United States, University of Chicago, Notre Dame (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From The New England Journal of Medicine
Why should this book about the commercialization of higher education, written by a former president of Harvard University, be reviewed in a medical journal? And what relevance does his thoughtful analysis of the corrosive effects of big-time athletics and profit-oriented education and research in our leading universities have for the medical profession? The answer should be obvious. Medical schools and teaching hospitals resemble the major research universities in being not-for-profit institutions that are entrusted with essential public responsibilities and that are now endangered by commercial incentives. As part of this carefully balanced yet compelling description of how financial rewards are increasingly tempting universities to compromise their educational and scholarly standards, Derek Bok also exposes the ethical crisis now facing academic medicine and the U.S. medical profession at large. Whether describing the scandals in the athletics programs at major colleges, the consequences of universities' pursuit of profits from the licensing of patented discoveries, or the conflicts of interest among faculty scientists who have financial ties to industry, Bok shows that he knows his subject well and that he has done his homework. Moreover, he marshals the relevant facts with an even hand and unsparing candor. He seems as familiar with the medical academy as with the rest of the university scene. Unlike many university presidents, he fully understands the risks inherent in the growing liaison between medical schools and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Although he acknowledges the social usefulness of the enhanced collaboration between academic and corporate research that followed the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, he also is clear about the risks to the integrity and independence of research in medical schools that results from industry sponsorship and about the need for stronger policies to protect these values. Bok says that corporate influence on research involving human subjects needs particular attention because of the threat to the welfare of patients, but he also says that the involvement of businesses in the education of practitioners is no less problematic, since the practitioners' education will determine how they treat their patients. He is right on both counts. Bok is also correct to emphasize the growing danger of the corporate subsidization of continuing medical education. By allowing pharmaceutical companies to support and thereby influence programs for the continuing education of practitioners, medical schools and teaching hospitals are surrendering their own professional responsibility for education. In so doing, they risk losing the public's trust in the objectivity and reliability of medical teaching and in the professional advice that is based on this teaching. He fears that this trend may no longer be reversible because medical schools and teaching hospitals already depend on corporate support, but I think he is too pessimistic. Continuing medical education does not need to be nearly as costly as it is, and it could be financed without corporate handouts. Professional medical educators could easily regain full control if they were determined to do so and if they worried less about the loss of their corporate subsidies. Despite similar concerns about the reversibility of much of the current commercial tide in higher education, Bok thinks that university leaders still have the power to develop policies that could effect change. He urges collective action by the trustees and presidents of our universities and hopes that senior faculty can be persuaded to join the effort. I believe the same should be said about our medical academic leadership. If a handful of the most prestigious and influential medical schools were to adopt new guidelines that drew clear and reasonable limits to protect research and education from the worst effects of corporate influence, we would be well on our way to a solution. Without such action, it is hard to see how the values of most medical professionals can be sustained in a climate that is now so heavily dominated by investor-owned corporations. The medical profession, like the rest of higher education, is too important to society to allow its future to be determined by market forces. One can only hope that this book will help the public understand what is at stake and will generate support for the needed reforms. Derek Bok has sounded a warning that ought to be heeded. I suspect his book has already become required reading for college presidents and trustees and other leaders in higher education. It deserves just as careful attention from the deans of medical schools and their faculty -- and indeed from all physicians who care about the soul of their profession. Arnold S. Relman, M.D.
Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Bok's patient attention to useful policies that each university can institute on its own is . . . [what] is needed. -- Alan Ryan , Times Literary Supplement

Informed, concise, readable, temperate yet sounding necessary alarms. -- Change

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (November 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691120129
• ISBN-13: 978-0691120126
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #275,689 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Consideration Of Effects Of Commercialization On Academia!, April 15, 2004

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (Hardcover)

Anyone who has been associated with higher education in this country in the last fifty years is aware of the massive changes that have been sweeping over private colleges and state university systems in the last twenty to thirty years, changes ranging from the unfortunate consequences of political correctness to those associated with a relaxation of more rigorous academic standards to make such education "more accessible" to the population at large to other changes associated with the increasing concentration on more practical "vocational" educational skills to the proliferation of shop-as-you-go graduate educational programs, diploma mills designed to deliver to consumers a plethora of MBA and other business-oriented degrees in service to their career progression. Those of us professionally associated with higher education have often bemoaned the sad changes visiting themselves upon what was once a proud institution, the marvel of the western world in terms of its level of rigor, accessibility, and relative merit in terms of educational product.

In this recent tome by former Harvard University president Derek Bok, yet another form of change and devolution of all the academy once stood for is discussed with both intelligence and wit; the commercialization of institutions of higher education and the associated seduction and corruption of faculty, administrators and the university system itself. Bok takes a probing look at the many ways in which financial enticements have entered the ivory towers, and how such temptations are profoundly altering the business of the university system itself, often warping both the mission of the institution as well as the intellectual products flowing from the academic marketplace. Beginning with the advent of financial gain associated with college sport programs, the author wonders out loud at what point the transformation of what was once an ancillary concern for additional source of academic funding became a much more purposeful source of university profit, resulting in much more deliberate efforts on the university's part to use sport for financial gain.

He similarly muses over the fashion in which independent medical research efforts within university setting have become captive to the driving force of pharmaceutical and other medical enterprises, such that the focus and progress of medical research becomes much more focused on particular kinds of patent-driven and/or profit-oriented enterprises, efforts that if successful can turn humble medical researchers into instant millionaire tycoons. Similarly, universities now find themselves competing over intellectual hot properties like cybernetic wiz-kids, with places like Harvard offering fringe benefits like free homes in Concord or Lexington MA in order to lure promising young computer superstars capable of drawing a lot of grant money and/or corporate sponsorship to the institution. Finally, he debates as to what the practice of beginning such internet-based distance learning programs will have on both the quality and nature of higher education in the future, since it could well have significant consequences for those wishing to actually do their study on-campus.

Of course, commercialization has some positive aspects to it, as with the excellent (and quietly profit-oriented) extension university system associated with Harvard. One can gain access to the same faculty and coursework as is available in the full-time day programs at Harvard in part-time evening programs (both undergraduate as well as graduate) that are relatively inexpensive, have few entrance requirements and all of the advantages of a more rigorous Harvard liberal arts education. While it is likely true that the program exists as a way of Harvard itself cashing in on the cache of its name, it offers a quality educational program and provides a potential excellent product for a discerning consumer. At base, this is an absorbing book, one well worth the time and effort to thread through its 200 some pages in search of some provocative and thoughtful observations of the drawbacks associated with the increasing commercialization of the university marketplace. It is a book I can highly recommend. Enjoy!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Commericializing higher education poses significant risks., April 5, 2003

By	Bruce Larson (Leicester, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (Hardcover)

Derek Bok, former President of Harvard University, presents a clear and thoughtful examination of the risks of commercializing higher education, while recognizing that there are times when the benefits of such activities will outweigh the costs. The greatest risk that commercialization poses is the gradual erosion of the values that have served the university in its American form so well for nearly four hundred years. His book stands as a warning, albeit a balanced one, of what can be lost by excessive focus of creating university products for the market.

As one might expect, Bok's discussion focuses on the research university, but at a time when so many universities and colleges are in financial distress, it is of relevance for all of higher education. There is a useful set of notes that indicate contemporary sources that relate to his theme, showing familiarity with a variety of interesting materials. Without a doubt a valuable work that makes the reader eager for more.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gazing into the future of universities, September 10, 2003

By	N. Tsafos (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (Hardcover)

Derek Bok, a professor and formerly president of Harvard, writes about the pressures for commercialization that institutions of higher education face and are likely to face in the future. (Commercialization is defined as "efforts within the university to make profit from teaching, research and other campus activities.") In particular, Professor Bok has taken on three major themes: commercialization of athletics, research and education (online teaching, extension programs, etc.)

For one, this book is a useful reality check. Through scores of studies, Professor Bok dispels the myth that these three activities are profitable. Save few exceptions, these endeavors prove financially disastrous. More than that, there are the hidden dangers of compromising a university's academic standards and standing in the community. The call for a candid evaluation of the costs of commercialization is half of the book's theme.

The other half outlines prescriptions and guidelines for university presidents about how to handle these increased pressures. Professor Bok suggests revision to NCAA rules, and university oversight and care to limit the influence of corporate sponsors over research or the curriculum taught in schools.

In the end, "Universities in the Marketplace" is a reminder that universities are built around values: "the larger message of a liberal arts education [is] that there is more to life than making money." These values and the collaborative spirit, on which universities thrive, are threatened by the mistaken perception that there is money to be made by exploiting a school's name. The adherence to high standards is an old prescription for new pressures, and the one that Professor Bok suggests as the ultimate guideline for dealing with the threats of the future.