ERIC Number: EJ783021
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Feb
Pages: 30
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0195-6744
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Available Date: N/A
Toward a Theory of the University: Mapping the American Research University in Space and Time
Robbins, Jane
American Journal of Education, v114 n2 p243-272 Feb 2008
Universities are increasingly characterized as businesses, and higher education as an industry. Yet there has been little empirical work to support claims of growing corporatization--and no theoretical basis offered to test them. To motivate research and discussion from a cross-disciplinary perspective, I examine three analogies for the university--business, state agent, and quasi-state--by evaluating the history of higher education in light of the theory of the firm and the theory of the state. I draw conclusions about the viability of each construction of the university, including leadership implications of the strongest theoretical possibility, and suggest further multidisciplinary research. (Contains 4 figures and 17 notes.)
Descriptors: Higher Education, Research Universities, Concept Mapping, Cognitive Mapping, Foundations of Education, Institutional Research, Institutional Characteristics, Organizational Theories, Organizational Objectives, Intellectual History, Institutional Administration
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A