Academics and economics the Yin and Yang of for-profit higher education : a case study of the University of Phoenix /

by Rutherford, Gregory Franklin.

Ethereal Knowledge Substance less Soulless Narrowly Pragmatic Pedantic Eccentric Theoretician Doctrinaire Faculty Narrow Minded One Dimensional Overly Pragmatic Esoteric Irrelevant Curriculum Rote Pure Vocational Exclusivity Screening Oriented Recruiting Hard Sale Pressure Filled Weed Out Encouraged Attrition Retention Retain as Long as They Pay Draconian Oppressive Stifling Rigor Low Expectations Perfunctory Review Squander Utilize Resources Leverage Hoard Figure 11 Academic / Economic Continuum From the beginning, Sperling had been frustrated by the inability of many to see that the economic and the academic were related. Discouragingly, some of the most prominent contemporary commentators on the educational scene celebrate the gulf between academia and the larger society, especially the grubby world of business (Sperling 1989, p. 56). UOP personnel exhibit a good understanding of the consequences inherent in pursuing extremes in either academics or economics. They realize that either extreme is unhealthy and that they purposefully choose to not be overly imbalanced. There is a clear indication that UOP finds itself out of balance from time to time. The following UOP executive wrote this response concerning the extremes of academics and economics. Obviously, either one if taken to an extreme could prove disastrous. Too academic and we lose our business acumen; too concerned with the economics and we run the risk of becoming greedy and losing our academic quality. I think everyone clearly understands the risks of the extremes and we’ve all become comfortable hanging together (yes, even with our differences) in the middle, safe ground (UOP Executive Interview). Others at UOP offered examples of extremes. Extreme academics would be the creation of a program (thus using UOP resources), which was academically sound but of no interest to any marketplace. Just because it could be created doesn't mean it should. Extreme economics would be the opening of a geographical market (thus 166 using UOP resources) in which there was no need for our academic programs (UOP Executive Interview). One example of pursuing academics to an extreme would be having a program, let's say a major in an obscure discipline, just for the sake of saying that the university offers it, even though the enrollment and graduates are very low. Our programs must have sufficient enrollment or they are phased out. Extreme economics would be not providing the resources necessary for a quality program. To help prevent that, we have deans who are responsible for ensuring the quality of the programs, who have a separate reporting line to the president (UOP Executive Interview).