Public Funding Of Higher Education Research Articles

The right to higher education: A political theory

In The Right to Higher Education: A Political Theory, I argue that post-compulsory education should be an individual right in a liberal democratic society. Here, I respond to a series of criticisms of the right’s justification. I address objections relating to: the autonomy-based justification of the right and liberal neutrality, the right’s scope and limits, the fairness of full public funding for higher education, constraints on the right’s equality-promoting aims, and the meaning of the term ‘higher education’ under the right.

A note on the trade-off between efficiency and equity in public financing of higher education

A note on the trade-off between efficiency and equity in public financing of higher education

Transfer friendliness at Athens State University

AbstractAthens State University is an upper‐division university that serves junior and senior undergraduate students, as well as graduate students. 100% of the students enrolled transfer from another institution. The sustainability of ASU requires policies and procedures that make the transfer process seamless and foster student success. As funding for public higher education becomes more competitive at the state level, public institutions are becoming more reliant on tuition, therefore embracing policies including a transfer‐friendly approach that positively affects student persistence and retention is a necessity. This section examines the concept of transfer friendliness at Athens State University. Also provided are recommendations for managing transfer‐friendly policies in a post‐COVID‐19 environment at a public university.

The tyranny of meritocracy and elite higher education

In The Tyranny of Merit, Michael Sandel argues that the American society is not meritocratic, that belief that it is causes various social harms, and that some of those harms –in particular, the costs to social solidarity – would be caused even if society actually were meritocratic. He also explores the way that the structure of higher education is implicated in the ‘ethos’ of meritocracy. This article explores just how the ethos of meritocracy might undermine solidarity, argues that the structural changes needed to achieve actual meritocracy would be benign, even though meritocracy itself is not very valuable, and identifies ways in which changes to the structure of public funding for higher education may inadvertently have undermined solidarity.

Determinants and consequences of student satisfaction in Australian Universities: Evidence from QILT Surveys

AbstractWe examine the determinants and consequences of student satisfaction, measured by satisfaction scores reported in the QILT surveys from 2012 to 2017. We find that university‐level profitability determines overall student satisfaction, where a positive relationship exists between student satisfaction and university performance. This association is more pronounced for Group of Eight (Go8) universities and those with higher academic expenditure. These findings have important implications for higher education providers as the Australian Government is contemplating the use of QILT student satisfaction in allocating public funding for higher education.

DIVERSIFICATION OF SOURCES OF FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION: THE EXPERIENCE OF REFORM IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The exacerbation of the shortage of financial resources in the current global challenges has necessitated increased efficiency in the financing of higher education institutions. Along with the increase in funding, diversification of sources and transformation of funding mechanisms for higher education systems have become topical issues. The study attempted to identify the internal structure of public funding for higher education in Europe concerning funding mechanisms. According to the results of clustering of European countries based on coverage of the population with higher education and public spending on higher education by one undergraduate, eight clusters were identified, four of which are unique and contain one country (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Luxembourg). Four other clusters cover countries with: incomplete public funding for higher education; state protectionism in the financing of higher education; specific forms of state funding for higher education; strategic state priority in financing higher education. The general patterns of financing higher education in European countries, the experience of expanding funding sources, efficient use of financial resources and granting autonomy to universities, which can be taken into account in the process of higher education reforms in countries with transformational economies.

Exploring tuition fees as a policy instrument of internationalisation in a welfare state – the case of Sweden

ABSTRACT This article sheds light on some challenges that internationalisation raises for policymakers regarding public funding of higher education in a welfare state by examining policy logics for introducing tuition fees for international students in Sweden 2011. Using thematic analysis of documents related to the Swedish reform, we identify how an increasing number of international students was the perceived policy problem, threatening national students’ access to free higher education. Policy objectives included sharing the cost of internationalisation but also enabling control of cost and influx of international students, enhancing quality and strengthening national branding. Many of these objectives concur with more established understandings on why policymakers turn to the market according to a more neo-liberal ‘market’ logic. However, a policy mix of tuition fees and scholarships enabled a governance model of control, which more relates to a ‘welfare’ logic. Likewise, the policy problem indicates that a search for profit and revenue cannot simply explain tuition fee reforms for international students. By discussing how underlying normative assumptions at the policy formulation stage contrast reality ten years after the reform, it appears that revenue from the global market has been more significant for Swedish policymakers than the rhetoric suggests.

Educational dominant of the information economy development: a case of Latvia for Ukraine

Introduction. In recent years, digitalization is one of the defining trends of the development in the leading countries of the world. The development of information economy is influenced by a combination of factors; however, the most powerful is an educational dominant. The higher education institutions (HEIs) carry out training activities for information economy, the development of digital skills of the personnel, as well as carrying out studies of the personnel’s digital skills, and conducting research, generating innovations and their transfer to the real sector of economy. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the impact of higher education on the dynamics of information economy on the example of Latvia with further identification of the best practices and their adaptation to the Ukrainian social and economic conditions. The research methodology is conditioned by the implementation of the in-depth comparative analysis of the development of higher education systems in Latvia and Ukraine; within the study, were used the method of constructing cubic regression models of the relationship between indicators. The hypothesis: 1) there is an objective interaction between the level of economic development of the country and the amount of public funding for higher education; 2) the information economy development is largely determined by the level of higher education development, and funding for research at HEIs. Results. The study revealed the following constraints on the development of the national higher education system: complex geopolitical, demographic, migration situation, which affects the parameters of the student body of HEIs; low competitiveness level of HEIs in the global educational services market; low level of financial autonomy of HEIs; lack of financing, low level of diversification of the financing sources for HEIs, etc. These problems negatively affect the pace of the information economy development in Ukraine. The authors proved that the Latvian experience in the implementation of the digitalization strategy could be useful for Ukraine, because of some similar economic, social, mental, historic conditions and factors of development of both countries. The calculations on the econometric models of relationship between funding and basic indicators of higher education development in Ukraine and Latvia showed: the amount of funding for higher education systems does not depend on the number of HEIs; the number of students depends on the amount of public funding (this indicates the important role of the state in the higher education development, in increasing the level of accessibility of higher education for citizens); close relationship between the amount of funding for higher education and the number of graduate students; positive trend in funding for higher education. Conclusions. The authors conclude that strengthening the impact of the educational dominant on the information economy development requires: ensuring a proactive position of HEIs (by modernizing their educational, research and innovation activities); activating the role of the government sector in protection of intellectual property, stimulating the development of innovatively active enterprises and their cooperation with universities, involving investments in the development of the HEIs’ innovative infrastructure, commercialization of innovative results of the research in the real sector of the economy.

Opinions of teachers towards the balance participation of all socioeconomic students in higher education 

The respondents among instructors offered a number of proposals in addition to their opinions on many issues relating to higher education participation in order to guarantee the fair participation of various socioeconomic groups in society. Nearly all of the respondents emphasized the need for the government to have a more proactive role in the higher education sector. The government's position has been described, nevertheless, with a variety of considerations in mind. One-fourth of the respondents believed that the "state should take its responsibility more seriously." "Economic and political policy should include education policy," the saying goes. "The government must set aside a larger budgetary portion for higher education so that it is accessible to everyone." More public higher education institutions should be established, especially in underdeveloped educational regions. Additionally, "sufficient funds must be provided to already dying ones." Another viewpoint holds that public funding of higher education should be increased rather than relying more on privatization of higher education. Fees ought to be subsidized or lowered. Additionally, these respondents believed that market-oriented courses should be spread evenly alongside liberal education (social sciences, humanities, and pure sciences), as it draws in a lot of students due to its affordability. This position is in contrast to the fact that professional education in particular and higher education in general are increasingly seen as essential prerequisites for participation in the developing global information economy.

Public Funding of Higher Education and Student Access

This study explores the question of how two public universities in Africa seek to improve student access, given the decline in public funding. Using resource dependence theory as a guide, qualitative approach via semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis are used to gather data to explore the study’s objective. To examine the reduction in public funding and student access, this study first examines the changes in public funding and student access at the University of the Western Cape and the University of Ghana from 2007 to 2016. This is followed by an analysis of factors that influence the changes in public funding, and their implications for student access at the two universities. The last to be explored is the actual strategies that the University of the Western Cape and the University of Ghana have employed to improve student access in the face of cutback in public funding. 

The role and criteria of public financing of higher education

This article considers the process of public funding of higher education with the account of international experience. Theoretically, the content of higher education is considered. Public and personal benefits in higher education determine it as a quasipublic good. World practice testifies to state financing of higher education. In the countries of the world, the state fully or partially finances higher education. The determining factor in human capital is higher education. State grants for higher education are in the form of vouchers and are applied on the principle of "money followed by the student." But there is a peculiarity of the implementation of the principle, which consists in securing the state educational grant to the institution of higher education chosen by the еnrollee. At the same time, social risks and burdens including psychological, stressful on enrollee were identified that necessitate a “reset” of the State Grants Program and the education system as a whole after COVID 19. In education, the necessity of changing the course from memorizing academic knowledge to the logic of thinking, acquiring professional competencies. Relatively low results of participation of Kazakhstanis in international comparative studies PISA, PIAAC, ICILS are presented. The relatively low level of education of Kazakhstani youth is systemic in nature. State funding of higher education is primarily desirable for secondary school graduates from low-income families.

‘See you soon?!’ Mobility, competition and free-riding in decentralized higher education financing

ABSTRACT Highly skilled human capital is usually also highly mobile. Concerns regarding interregional migration revolve around suboptimal public financing of higher education rooted in free-riding behaviour if budget responsibilities are decentralized. This investigation sets out to answer whether cross-state mobility of students in general and individual taste variation in the preference for ‘home’ and ‘university’ states in particular justify concerns about the free-riding behaviour of state governments. We analyse graduates’ location choices when leaving university using a mixed logit model and subsequently relate the revealed taste variation to individual characteristics. The results suggest some attachment to ‘home’ states that justify concerns about potential free-riding. However, substantial taste variation exists and is partly associated with the quality of human capital. State governments free-riding on the investment of others therefore may face a quality trade-off.

Empty shelves: How your academic library can address food insecurity

Researchers have only recently begun looking at food insecurity on college campuses. Food insecurity is characterized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways due to limited financial resources. Harmony Reppond illustrates this point when writing, “food insecurity for college students can mean running out of food between paychecks, attending campus events in search of food, reducing food intake, purchasing minimally nutritious food that costs less, skipping meals, and deciding between paying for textbooks or food.” Food insecurity is often an invisible condition because of the stigma associated with hunger and poverty. However, the extent and severity of food insecurity on college campuses is alarming. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a literature review and found that college student food insecurity rates exceeded 30% in the majority of published studies. The Hope Center at Temple University conducts an annual survey on student basic needs, which originally covered food and housing insecurity, and has since been expanded to include transportation, childcare, stress, and mental health. Over the last five years this survey has been completed by more than 330,000 students attending 411 colleges and universities, and the Hope Center has found that on average over the last five years 39% of respondents reported being food insecure in the prior 30 days. The rise of student food insecurity is linked to a decrease in public funding for higher education, which in turn has caused a steep increase in tuition rates, combined with more low-income students entering college.

Modern Trends in Public Funding of Higher Education

Public funding currently plays a key role in the stability and success of higher education systems in the world leading countries. As governments are often the main sources of funding for higher education, the effectiveness of public policies in allocating financial flows is a matter of concern. This paper discusses the main mechanisms of financing higher education systems and analyzes the structures and features of these mechanisms using the examples of the largest countries of Western Europe and Asia – Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and China.Materials and methods. In order to identify current trends in public funding of higher education, the authors used two main groups of materials, which can be conditionally divided into official regulatory documents and statistical (analytical) reviews. Systemic-structural and statistical data analysis methods were applied in the research.Results. The study of trends in public funding of higher education revealed their great diversity not only in terms of the share in the overall structure of university income, but also in the mechanisms of distribution of financial flows. Nevertheless, this study presents the main groups of these mechanisms, structured according to the methods of their implementation.Discussion and Conclusion. In the course of the study, the authors concluded that the existing diversity of the world’s higher education financing systems is primarily due to the sustainability of traditions that have developed in national education systems, and the lack of international initiatives aimed at unifying the mechanisms of education financing, as was done earlier on the structure, levels and qualifications in the implementation of the bologna Process. In addition, the constantly changing financial situation in the world encourages states to look for alternative sources of support for higher education, which leads to the creation of new independent financing mechanisms.

Adjunct Faculty Development: A Kenyan Perspective

Much development has happened in the education sector in African countries. In Kenya, there has been a proliferation of institutions of higher learning. Severe cuts in government funding for public higher education have resulted in the privatization of higher education and the need for adjunct faculty as a way to cut costs. Research suggests that although there is a rise in reliance on adjunct faculty in many institutions of higher learning around the world, these faculty are not always adequately prepared for the challenges they meet in the classroom. This article explores the need for full-time as well as adjunct faculty development in institutions of higher learning in Kenya. It looks at ways in which adjunct faculty can be specifically offered professional development and how they can be integrated into the life of the institutions in which they teach. Finally, it proposes possible implications for carrying out adjunct faculty development.

Access to Higher Education in New Mexico: Racial, Ethnic and Geographic Disparities

This chapter, written for a collected volume on Race in Rural America, assesses the intersections of race and ethnicity with rurality in relation to higher education access and attainment in the State of New Mexico. New Mexico is one of the nation’s most rural states and is home to a distinct population in terms of race and ethnicity: the greatest percentage Latinx/Hispanic population—right at half and growing fast—and the third smallest population of non-Hispanic whites among all states. Further, more than a tenth of New Mexicans identify as American Indian, the second greatest percentage among the states. The fifth most sparsely populated state in the nation, New Mexico struggles chronically with a lagging economy, high poverty and child poverty rates, and low educational attainment. Against that demographic and economic backdrop, the analysis in this chapter reveals disappointing educational attainment among Hispanic and American Indian students as measured against these groups’ proportion of the state’s broader population, but particularly in relation to New Mexico’s college-aged population. In other words, young Hispanics’ status as a majority does not appear to be a protective factor—or at least not a sufficiently protective one—when it comes to higher educational attainment. American Indian students struggle to an even greater degree, falling far behind both their non-Hispanic white and Hispanic counterparts. While rural residents’ education level consistently falls behind that of metropolitan residents, it is impossible to determine the extent to which this is due to a rural brain drain—the phenomenon of young people raised in rural areas who migrate to urban areas to obtain their college degrees and then stay, often because of better economic opportunities. Indeed, the data suggest bleak higher education outcomes for all low-income and rural residents, regardless of race or ethnicity. We attribute this in part to inadequate state funding of public higher education and to a mismatch between how that funding is currently spent, e.g., four-year institutions, merit-based student aid, and how it could be better spent to promote access and attainment for the most vulnerable students. We close the chapter with recommendations for policy makers seeking to achieve equity in education and thus also foster a brighter economic future for the entire state. We emphasize the need for the collection of more nuanced data so that the State of New Mexico can better understand trends and shift resources in ways that will make education access more equitable across race, ethnicity and geography.

Performance-based public funding of higher education: European experience and practice of Ukraine

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to investigate the effectiveness of higher education funding in Ukraine and the EU member states in the face of global challenges and national reforms, as well as to substantiate measures to implement the performance-based approach in the medium term. Methodology of research. The following methods are used to carry out the study: historical and logical – in the study of contemporary challenges for education in the global environment, statistical and generalization – in assessing the domestic practice of higher education financing, comparison – in the analysis of financial and demographic pressure on higher education institutions in Ukraine and EU, synthesis – to substantiate the effects of implementing the performance-based approach for the allocation of public funding to the higher education system and priorities for its reformation in Ukraine. Findings. In order to investing in skills and capacity-building, needed to achieve cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and quality, higher education requires sustainable and adequate public funding. The article substantiates that the current challenges for education systems in the global environment are political and regulatory changes, globalization trends, stakeholder expectations, digitization, nature and structure of the labour market. The feasibility of using a performance-based approach in Ukraine in comparison to other mechanisms of public funding allocation in higher education has been proved, the key performance indicators used in the EU member states have been uncovered also potential effects of implementation have been identified. Originality. The effectiveness of public funding in Ukraine in comparison with EU member states has been determined. This allowed substantiating a set of recommendations for domestic higher education institutions concerning their adaptation to the long-term financial and demographic pressures. The key principles of the public policy, oriented at achieving the effects of economy and efficiency in the sphere of allocation and use of public funds in the higher education system, have been substantiated. Practical value. The proposed recommendations put forward for implementation can be used in reforming the system of higher education funding in Ukraine and will help to improve the performance of educational institutions. Key words: system of higher education funding; public funding of higher education; higher education effectiveness; performance-based funding in higher education.

DIVERSIFICATION OF FINANCING SOURCES OF HEIS IN UKRAINE

In the conditions of information economy, is growing the role of sectors capable of generating new knowledge, thus contributing to the country's economic development. The intellectual and innovative potential of the higher education system can transform the higher education institutions (hereinafter HEI) into one of the key drivers for activating the processes of the information economy formation.In modern social-economic conditions, is becoming urgent to modernize the higher education system in response to the actual demands of the external economic environment; the modernization processes require adequate funding. Taking into account the potential and the tendency of HEIs transformation into economic entities, it is important to create the preconditions for diversification of their funding sources at the state level.The financial aspects of the HEIs functioning, the aspects of diversification of funding sources of higher education system are being researching by the number of scientists: Kaleniuk I., Bogolib T., Kuklin O., Tsymbal L., Buchkovskaya Ya., Radionova I., Komarova I., Volikov V., Devol R., Lee J., Ratnatunga M., etc.Problems of diversification of financial sources require further research, in particular — the prospects of commercialization of universities’ research results.The research objective: study of diversification of financing sources of the Ukrainian higher education institutions.The article analyzes tendencies of financing of the Ukrainian higher education system. The analysis demonstrated a gradual reduction of public funding for higher education. Exogenous and endogenous problems of commercialization of universities research results are specified in the article.The author comes to the conclusion about the necessity of diversification of funding sources of the Ukrainian higher educational institutions. The author identifies the commercialization of research results of higher educational institutions as one of priority funding sources.

Returns to education in India: Capturing the heterogeneity

AbstractThe aim of this article is to estimate the marginal rates of return to various levels of education in India, across the entire wage distribution. For this purpose, unit level data from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (India) for the year 2011–2012 have been used, and the technique of quantile regression has been applied. Average estimates were ignored, and the heterogeneity in rates of return was captured across the following disaggregations: (a) all India, public and private sectors, (b) gender, and caste groups (scheduled tribes [STs], scheduled castes [SCs], other backward classes, and others). The findings showcase that the rates of return increased with consecutive higher levels of education. However, this impact varies across the disaggregations examined. The returns are the least for STs and SCs as compared with others (the unreserved category), with the differences in the rates of return being maximum in the private sector. Additionally, women experience a higher rate of return than men. These findings have important policy implications with respect to strengthening the public funding of higher education and encouraging participation from the marginalised segments (STs, SCs), which is otherwise dismal.

Administrative problems of university fnancing

The article is devoted to the study of patterns of formation and development of the system of fnancial support for the functioning of universities as a central element of the system of higher education institutions at the university level and to determine on this basis the relevant tendencies and problems. It is noted that the issue of retaining universities, providing their fnancial and logistical needs has been urgent since their emergence as a public institute, and it remains so today. In particular, the relevant issues are characterized in Ukraine. The principles of public fnancing of domestic universities have recently undergone signifcant changes, which have already started to be implemented since 2020. In the world, public funding for higher education institutions is through the prism of implementing appropriate public policy. Public funding for higher education is provided through national and local budgets. World practice has a diversity of funding models for universities. Based on the analysis, they can be broadly divided into two types, depending on the source of funding: public (state and municipal) and private. The fnancial models used in the practice of European universities take into account the effectiveness of the university’s activities, but they differ depending on the type of activity of the university, for example, some fnancial models are used for training and others for research activities. Regarding Ukraine, there is reason to note the general trends in the development of the countries with economiesin transition, in view of the fact that the government (the state) remains the main source of funding for higher education,while the decrease of the state budget for fnancing the education of students is evident. training, development of new programs and investment in research. A dramatic change in the mechanism of public funding of Ukrainian universities began in late 2019, when the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine signifcantly changed the approach to fnancing higher education. These changes are envisaged in the Concept of Reforming Financing and Management of Higher Education Institutions. In general, it should be noted that the search for and development of an effective university funding model should take into account all the activities of the university and be based on effciency, transparency and autonomy. Thisshould, in turn, increase the accountability of all participants in the educational process and enable the use of limited fnancial resources.