When money talks, the science falls silent: Devastating effects of massification and the Third Mission on tertiary education system

Abstract

Mayer (this issue) discusses several problems related to the financing crisis that characterizes science and tertiary education for already about half a century. First of all she focusses on the question how the ways of financing inhibit careers of young scientists. In this paper I take a look at the financing problems from a wider background. The financing crisis emerged because of the substantial increase of the expectations imposed on universities without increasing proportionally the financing: massification and the so called Third Mission. Instead of helping universities to cope with the new tasks without reducing any of the traditional tasks of them, universities are left alone with more tasks and less money. Universities are also pushed to replace meaningful and constructive activities with bureaucratic formal activities which contribution to the society is increasingly questionable. Massification and the Third Mission in the current form have increasingly devastating effect on the research and tertiary education.