16 April 2014 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
In a related article, Simon Marginson, professor of international HE at the Institute of Education, questions whether there ever could be a real market in higher education, and argues that there are limits to commercialisation processes. Whilst clearly focused on England, it has interesting insights that relate to HE trends generally. Despite “three decades of talk”, he believes UK HE is no closer to a “genuine capitalist market powered by the profit motive”. Such a situation is impossible, not because of the political obstacles, but because of “the intrinsic social nature of the ‘goods’ in HE”. Maggie McGrath explains this to Forbes - some university offerings, including a “strong alumni network” or “happiness of the students who are enrolled,” are not always easy to calculate “in the same way you would a price”. Marginson elaborates:
“In economic terms, higher education produces status goods – student places and degrees associated with desired personal attributes and social outcomes. Social status cannot be infinitely expanded without changing its nature. …Likewise, consumer power cannot truly govern selective universities. They remain producer controlled. As the disgruntled consumer walks out of the door, she or he passes a queue of others waiting to enter. …Nor can university research be fully commercialised without losing the basic curiosity-driven programmes of enquiry that are both integral to economic innovation in industry, and underpin the social status of the leading higher education institutions. All over the world, basic research is largely sustained by governments or philanthropy, not markets”.
Marginson suggests this is why “no government anywhere has introduced a full-blown capitalist market”, and why in the US “universities depart from capitalism at every turn”.
