Diversification or homogenization: how markets and governments combine to shape American higher education

Abstract

The complex amalgamation of more than 3500 colleges and universities supplemented by corporate-based universities and several thousand proprietary institutions offering some form of post-secondary education and training is best understood as a complex interaction of various forms of markets, governmental policies, disciplinary associations, and institutional actors. To better understand how these forces interact and take effect, this paper defines relevant terms for understanding “diversity,” examines the components of the American “system” of higher education, discusses the ways in which various markets and governmental policies both encourage and discourage diversity, and identifies a model to explain how various factors interact to form the “system” of American higher education.