“Academic Capitalism”: Pros and Cons of the Development of Science and Higher Education

Abstract

The environment of academic capitalism, which has covered almost the entire field of science and higher education, has both positive (PROS) and negative (KONS) influences on them. Academic capitalism has sharply accelerated the commercialization of the results of applied research and development of universities and research institutes and has allowed these organizations and institutions to significantly capitalize on their intellectual capital. This gave impetus to the development of progressive innovations and outstanding inventions. For example, in the system of higher education there is an intensive innovative development, which, of course, can be attributed to the positive impact of academic capitalism on the development of material, technical, scientific and engineering potential of universities and colleges.On the other hand, the pursuit of profit and the general search for opportunities to commercialize R&D results, mainly the results of applied research and experimental development, leads to a significant reduction in demand and attention to the development of fundamental science and the search for basic scientific values. This leads to a slowdown in the production of new basic fundamental knowledge and a slowdown in the intellectual development of society.Many recent scientific publications have also criticized the impact of academic capitalism on science and higher education. Excessive entrepreneurial activity of universities in the direction of profiting from the development and commercialization of applied research instead of purely scientific activities and basic basic research leads to the loss of the position of universities and colleges as “temples of science”. There may still be a small number of academic institutions of higher education and research that continue to conduct basic research that is difficult to commercialize but that is genuine “scientific knowledge,” or in other words, knowledge of humanity.This paper analyzes the innovative changes in the higher education system caused by the environment of academic capitalism. The negative impact of academic capitalism on the sphere of higher education and science is also analyzed.