Privatisation and Crisis in Higher Education - School of Law Research Seminar

Event Date: 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013 - 1:00pm

Event Location: 

  • SOAS
  • IALS L101
Speaker:

Andrew McGettigan, Christopher Newfield

 

Andrew McGettigan“Why does the government believe universities should reconsider charitable status?”
The latest government strategy for promoting HE as an export was published in July. It indicated that charitable status might no longer be appropriate for universities seeking to exploit global education markets. A separate annex discussed why universities have so far been reluctant to engage with private equity. This talk will discuss the mechanisms by which charities can change their corporate form and ask what that means for public benefit objects and the HE sector more generally.
 
Christopher Newfield: "How Not to Fix Our Public Universities: An Overview of the American Case"
Fiscal austerity and other public sector changes are encouraging governments around the world to look to the private sector and private funding for the next round of university development. The United States has been on this path for thirty years, and there is abundant evidence on the effects of what some call privatization. The talk will review this evidence, show how the U.S. system is caught in a negative feedback loop, and suggest the need for paradigm shifts in funding methods and public missions.