|
« AAUP Homepage
|
For-Profit Programs Proliferate
The for-profit sector of higher education is growing fast, and nonprofit institutions increasingly emulate its techniques, according to a report issued in July by the Education Commission of the States. The report is based on a study funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which supports research and other projects relating to for-profit and online education.
According to the report, enrollment in for-profit degree-granting institutions has grown by 59 percent over the past decade. During the same period, the number of two-year for-profit degree-granting institutions increased by 78 percent, and the number of four-year institutions in that category increased by 266 percent.
The report attributes the growth of the for-profit sector largely to student enthusiasm for its career orientation, noting that "skills (versus theory) and practical subjects (versus the liberal arts) receive greater emphasis at for-profit institutions than at traditional colleges and universities." The report also states, however, that degree programs in all sectors of higher education have become more career-oriented, noting that a majority of all degrees are now granted in fields such as business, education, engineering, and the health professions rather than in the liberal arts and social sciences. And it asserts that nonprofit post-secondary institutions are "being encouraged" to emulate their for-profit counterparts in areas such as entrepreneurship, the establishment of for-profit divisions, and responsiveness to the wishes of employers and "clients."
|