The Price of Excellence: Comparative Perspectives on Competitive Higher Education

1. The Price of Excellence: Comparative Perspectives on Competitive Higher Education Luncheon Address at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Allam/Selangor, Malaysia, April 2, 2007 Professor Hans N. Weiler Stanford University

2. My points of reference • Stanford University/USA: An established university that has achieved excellence • Viadrina European University (Frankfurt/Oder – Germany): A new university that strives for excellence • Higher education in India: A system of higher education entering the international competition for excellence UiTM April 2, 2007

3. The Quest for Excellence in Higher Education • “Excellence initiatives” (Germany, India, etc.) • International rankings of excellence (“league tables”) • Quest for excellence is not surprising: • Excellence is indispensable • Excellence is socially responsible • Excellence is economical UiTM April 2, 2007

4. Excellence Means Competition • Excellence needs to be established and validated in relation to competitors • Competition in higher education • Competition for good students • Competition for good scholars • Competition for funds • Competition for recognition • Internal and external competition • Competition has become globalized UiTM April 2, 2007

5. The Measurement of Excellence • Reputational measures • Students, alumni, faculty, scientific community • Objective measures • Research output, research funding, completion rates, placement of graduates, no. of PhDs, size of library, faculty honors • Social measures • Representation of different ethnic and social groups and of women among student & staff • The convergence of different measures UiTM April 2, 2007

6. The Competitive University and the Prerequisites of Excellence • Outstanding quality of research and teaching • A clear and unmistakable institutional profile with priorities and posteriorities • Institutional autonomy and independence • (Funding: A relative prerequisite) UiTM April 2, 2007

7. How Prerequisites of Excellence Hang Together • Quality requires a clear institutional profile: One cannot be excellent in everything • Autonomy requires quality: Societies cannot grant autonomy to mediocre institutions • A clear institutional profile requires autonomy: Identity can only flourish in independent institutions UiTM April 2, 2007

8. Quality • Quality requires selectivity • Students • Staff • Leadership • The most critical dimension of university quality: Staff recruitment, retention, and promotion • Quality can be, and needs to be, managed: • Assessment, evaluation, incentives, penalties UiTM April 2, 2007

9. Indicators of Selectivity (Stanford) • Undergraduate Admissions (2004): • Applicants: 19 172 • Admitted: 2 486 ( = 13%) • Enrolled: 1 648 (52% male, 48% female) • Graduated after 5 years: 90.1% (1999) • Graduate Admissions (PhD): 5 – 15% of applicants • Assistant Professors receiving tenure: < 50% • Number of external comparative assessments for professorial recruitment and promotion: 10 to 12 UiTM April 2, 2007

10. Levels of Selectivity for US Colleges (Barron) UiTM April 2, 2007

11. Profile • No university can be good at everything • Profile means priorities AND posteriorities: Strengthen strengths and eliminate weaknesses • Too much breadth begets mediocrity • The sharpening of an institutional profile can go too far: The need for lateral connections UiTM April 2, 2007

12. Autonomy • Universities need and deserve autonomy • Threats to autonomy from without and from within • From without: Bureaucratic intervention by the state and agenda-setting intervention by sponsors • From within: The tension between individual autonomy and institutional autonomy • Autonomy and accountability: Two sides of the same coin UiTM April 2, 2007

13. Funding and Excellence • Funding is important, but funding isn‘t everything • If funding is limited (and it always is), it is better to do fewer things well than do everything poorly • The critical importance of research funding • Seed grants, indirect costs (overhead) • The ultimate guarantee of autonomy: Endowment funding of universities UiTM April 2, 2007

14. Research Funding in USA: External Research Grants and Overhead UiTM April 2, 2007

15. Selected University Endowments: Market Value, Returns, Growth UiTM April 2, 2007

16. University Budget: Revenue (Stanford University, 2005/06) UiTM April 2, 2007

17. The Hazards of Competition • Aggravating social cleavages • Neglecting the need for a broad-based education (the excellence-expansion quandary) • The danger of commercializing the university in the quest for funding (contracts, patents, fundraising, sports) • Competition for competition’s sake UiTM April 2, 2007

18. Admissions Data for the 146 Most Selective Colleges in the USA UiTM April 2, 2007

19. Partners for Excellence • Cooperation among universities: Competition does not preclude cooperation • Cooperation between universities and business: Proximity and affinity • International cooperation: The role of foreign talent • The ambivalent role of privatization: Flexibility vs. dependence and the erosion of standards UiTM April 2, 2007

20. Concluding Remarks • Competition is both unavoidable and conducive to academic excellence • Excellence needs to be based on both teaching and research, but research remains dominant • The quest for excellence has an international frame of reference • The competition in higher education is not asleep UiTM April 2, 2007

21. For further discussion:weiler@stanford.eduFor further texts:www.stanford.edu/people/weiler UiTM April 2, 2007