objectives of higher education

Meaning, Purpose & Objectives of of Higher Education

Introduction:  Higher education, often regarded as the pinnacle of academic pursuit, represents a transformative phase in the educational journey of individuals. Beyond elementary and secondary schooling, higher education encompasses specialized and advanced learning, nurturing intellect, critical thinking, and personal growth. Through a diverse array of disciplines and fields, higher education is a gateway to knowledge, expertise, and innovation, empowering students to become specialists in their chosen areas. As an integral part of societal progress, it fosters a culture of research and intellectual curiosity, shaping well-rounded individuals poised to make meaningful contributions to their communities and the world. At its core, higher education embodies the pursuit of excellence and self-discovery, preparing learners for future challenges while enriching their lives with the transformative power of education.

1.1 What is Higher Education ?

Higher education refers to the advanced level beyond the primary and secondary levels. It typically includes education provided by universities, colleges, professional schools, and other institutions that offer specialized academic and vocational programs. Higher education focuses on in-depth learning in specific fields of study, enabling individuals to develop expertise and advanced knowledge in their chosen areas.

At the higher education level, students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees, such as Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees, depending on their academic and career aspirations. The curriculum is more specialized and research-oriented than earlier education stages, encouraging critical thinking, analytical skills, and independent research.

Higher education serves various purposes, including:

• Specialization: It allows students to focus on their areas of interest and expertise, preparing them for careers in specific industries or professions.
• Research and Innovation: Higher education institutions are centers of research and development, contributing to the advancement of knowledge and the development of new technologies, ideas, and solutions.
• Personal Growth: Beyond academic knowledge, higher education fosters personal development, character building, and a sense of social responsibility.
• Career Advancement: Higher education equips individuals with the necessary skills and qualifications to pursue higher-level positions and leadership roles in their fields.
• Lifelong Learning: It instills a love for learning beyond graduation, encouraging continuous education and personal growth.

Higher education is a key driver of societal progress and economic development. Nations with well-developed higher education systems tend to have a more skilled and innovative workforce, contributing to overall prosperity and competitiveness in the global market. It plays a crucial role in shaping the future of individuals and society, empowering learners to become responsible and contributing members of their communities.

1.2 The Objectives of Higher Education

The objectives of higher education encompass a profound and multi-faceted purpose, elevating the pursuit of knowledge beyond mere academic instruction. At the heart of this noble endeavor lies the mission to equip learners with the tools to thrive in their chosen professions and as responsible and compassionate members of society. Higher education is a bastion of academic excellence, fostering critical thinking, innovation, and research that push the boundaries of human knowledge. Beyond specialization and career preparation, it seeks to nurture holistic personal development, cultivating ethical values, leadership qualities, and a global perspective. Higher education empowers individuals to adapt to evolving challenges, contribute meaningfully to their communities, and champion progress in a rapidly changing world by instilling a love for lifelong learning.

The objectives of higher education encompass a wide range of goals that aim to fulfill various roles in individuals’ personal, academic, and societal development. These objectives include:

• Academic Excellence: One of the primary objectives of higher education is to provide rigorous and comprehensive academic programs that promote excellence in learning. Institutions strive to maintain high education standards and ensure that students understand their chosen disciplines deeply.
• Specialization: Higher education allows students to specialize in specific fields of study, enabling them to acquire advanced knowledge and expertise in their areas of interest. The specialization prepares individuals for specialized careers and positions in their respective industries.
• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Higher education fosters critical thinking skills, encouraging students to analyze and evaluate information critically. It cultivates problem-solving abilities that empower graduates to address complex challenges in their professional and personal lives.
• Research and Innovation: Higher education institutions are hubs of research and innovation. Encouraging students and faculty to engage in research contributes to advancing knowledge, technological breakthroughs, and developing solutions to real-world problems.
• Personal Development: Higher education aims to nurture holistic personal growth in students. It focuses on character building, ethical values, leadership qualities, and a sense of social responsibility, preparing individuals to be responsible and compassionate citizens.
• Global Awareness and Cultural Understanding: Higher education encourages exposure to diverse perspectives, cultures, and ideas. Promoting global awareness and cultural understanding helps students develop a more inclusive and open-minded worldview.
• Lifelong Learning: Instilling a love for learning that extends beyond graduation is an essential objective of higher education. Graduates are encouraged to embrace lifelong learning to adapt to changing circumstances, pursue professional development, and stay relevant in a rapidly evolving world.
• Employment and Career Preparation: Higher education equips students with the skills and qualifications to enter the workforce and pursue successful careers. It provides internships, practical experiences, and networking opportunities, enhancing graduates’ employability.
• Social and Economic Mobility: Higher education has the potential to uplift individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing opportunities for social and economic mobility. It can break barriers and open doors to better opportunities and improved quality of life.
• Contribution to Society: A significant objective of higher education is to foster a sense of civic responsibility and encourage graduates to contribute positively to their communities. Higher education is crucial in producing responsible and active citizens committed to making a difference in society.

Higher education institutions aim to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to lead fulfilling lives, positively impact society, and advance knowledge and human progress by pursuing these objectives.

The Radhakrishnan Commission 3 presented a comprehensive set of objectives and purposes for higher education, acknowledging the evolving political, social, and economic landscape. These aims are as follows:

• The Commission emphasized the development of an intellectual attitude among university students, fostering a thirst for knowledge and critical thinking.
• Higher education was seen as a means to create visionary and courageous leaders who would champion social reform, addressing societal challenges with intelligence and insight.
• The universities were encouraged to assume a pivotal role as cultural organs and intellectual leaders, guiding civilization’s progress and promoting scholarly pursuits.
• Higher education was envisioned as a catalyst for the success of democracy, nurturing informed and engaged citizens who actively participate in the democratic process.
• The Commission advocated for discovering and enhancing individuals’ innate qualities through suitable training, empowering them to realize their potential.
• Higher education aims to instill sentiments of national discipline, international awareness, justice, freedom, equality, and brotherhood, nurturing global citizens committed to ethical values and unity.

The Kothari Commission has articulated its vision for the objectives and ideals of higher education as follows:

• Pursuit of Knowledge and Truth: Higher _ education aims to seek knowledge within the framework of truth, blending tradition with new insights to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Contribution to Society: The commission stresses on producing educated and skilled individuals who can serve society in various domains such as arts, sciences, agriculture, medicine, and industries.
• Leadership Development: Higher _ education strives to nurture leadership qualities in students, empowering them to excel and take charge in every sphere of life.
• Promotion of Social Justice: The commission advocates for higher _ education to encourage social justice, fostering a more equitable and inclusive society.
• Nurturing Values: Higher _ education seeks to instill the correct values among students and teachers, promoting ethical behavior and a sense of responsibility towards society.
• Reducing Disparities: Addressing social and cultural disparities is an essential objective, ensuring that education becomes a pathway for bridging gaps and promoting equality.
• National Consciousness: Higher _ education is a means to develop a sense of national consciousness, nurturing a deep understanding of one’s cultural identity and contributing to the nation’s growth and unity.
• Adult Education Program: The commission emphasizes the development of programs for adult education, recognizing the importance of learning opportunities for individuals beyond traditional schooling age.

Through these multifaceted objectives, the Kothari Commission envisions higher education as a transformative force that enriches individuals, empowers society, and fosters a better future for the nation.

1.3 The Purpose of Higher Education:

The purpose of higher education is multifaceted and encompasses a broad range of objectives aimed at intellectual, personal, and societal development. While the specific goals and emphasis may vary among institutions, cultures, and individuals, the overarching purposes of higher _ education include:

• Knowledge Acquisition: Higher _ education is fundamentally about acquiring and deepening knowledge in various fields of study. It allows students to delve into subjects of interest, develop critical thinking skills, and gain expertise in specific disciplines.
• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Higher _ education fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills, encouraging students to analyze information, evaluate arguments, and develop creative solutions to complex problems.
• Personal Growth: College experiences contribute to personal growth and self-discovery. Students often better understand their values, beliefs, and identities, preparing them for a more meaningful and purposeful life.
• Professional Skills: Higher _ education equips students with the practical skills and knowledge needed for specific careers and professions. This preparation includes internships, hands-on experiences, and exposure to industry-relevant practices.
• Career Advancement: A college degree is often a key factor in career advancement. Higher education provides the qualifications and credentials necessary for entry into many professions and can enhance job opportunities and earning potential.
• Global Citizenship: Higher _ education promotes a sense of global citizenship by fostering an awareness of global issues, cultural diversity, and interconnectedness. It encourages students to engage in social and civic activities to contribute positively to their communities and the world.
• Ethical Decision-Making: Through exposure to ethical theories and discussions, higher _ education helps students develop a strong sense of ethics and integrity, preparing them to make principled decisions in their personal and professional lives.
• Advancement of Knowledge: Higher _ education institutions contribute to advancing knowledge through research and innovation. Faculty and students engage in cutting-edge research that expands the boundaries of human understanding in various fields.
• Technology and Discovery: Colleges and universities drive technological advancements and scientific discoveries. Research conducted in higher education institutions often leads to breakthroughs with broad societal impact.
• Artistic and Cultural Appreciation: Higher _ education encourages an appreciation for the arts, literature, and cultural diversity. Exposure to different perspectives fosters creativity, cultural competence, and a deeper world understanding.
• Intellectual Dialogue: Colleges and universities are hubs for intellectual dialogue and academic discourse. Students engage with diverse ideas, challenge assumptions, and participate in conversations that broaden their intellectual horizons.
• Adaptability and Lifelong Learning: Higher _ education instills a commitment to lifelong learning. It equips individuals with the skills to adapt to a rapidly changing world, fostering a mindset of continuous education and personal development.

In essence, the purpose of higher _ education extends beyond acquiring degrees and credentials. It seeks to cultivate well-rounded individuals who are intellectually curious, socially responsible, and equipped to contribute meaningfully to their communities and the broader global society. Higher education serves as a transformative journey that prepares individuals for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Reference Articles:

• 1. Hijam, R. D. (2012). Management of the higher education in Manipur since 1972.  http://hdl.handle.net/10603/39238
• 2. Rao, M. S., & V, K. V. (2011). Quality management in higher education: A case study of MBA colleges in select districts coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. http://hdl.handle.net/10603/8364
• 3. Barnet.R. 1992 Bernett R. (1992). Learning to Effect. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
• 4. Bhatnagar Suresh: Modern Indian Education & its Problems, Surya Publication, Meerut, 1996.p/223

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What Is the Purpose and Future of Higher Education?

A sociologist explores the history and future of higher education..

Posted February 18, 2019 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

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A recent story asked, “ Can small liberal arts colleges survive the next decade? ” This question is important as we see the closure of some small schools, mostly in areas away from big cities. Yet, as University of California Riverside sociology and public policy distinguished professor Steven G. Brint notes based on his new book Two Cheers for Higher Education , “There’s always been a small number of colleges that close every year—usually fewer than a dozen—and more are opened for the first time than closed.” This illustrates, among other things, why it is important to consider a historical perspective on higher education to place recent individual news stories in context. That’s exactly what his latest book does: It explores the rich history of higher education, leading him to argue that overall higher education appears to be doing quite well, but also that there remain important concerns for higher education on the horizon.

I asked Steven questions about the purpose of higher education, why he argues higher education is doing quite well, and what his concerns are for its future. Anyone interested in the rich history of higher education and how that informs the future of higher education should read this book. Going to college or university is increasingly a fixture and perhaps even an obsession for parents and students, and understanding the history of that industry is useful to help us think about why we encourage students to go to college in the first place.

What, in your view, is the purpose of higher education?

The aims of higher education change over time. In the United States, the original purposes were to prepare students for a few “learned professions,” especially the clergy, and to provide a strong, religiously tinged moral education. Many of the activities that we now associate with higher education—extra-curricular clubs, majoring in a defined specialization, faculty research, access for socioeconomically disadvantaged students—came later.

Today, we would have to start by recognizing the fundamental fact that the purposes of higher education are highly differentiated by the stratum in the system institutions occupy. The aims of community colleges are very different from those of research universities. I do not talk about community colleges in the book, though I did write a book on community colleges early in my career . The great majority of the 3,000 or so four-year colleges and universities are primarily devoted to teaching students, mainly in occupational fields that in theory equip graduates to obtain jobs. Students will receive a smattering of general education in lower-division and will have opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities. The latter are more important for many students than classroom studies. Students hone interpersonal skills on campus, make contacts that can be useful for instrumental purposes as well as ends in themselves. For those who finish, their diplomas do provide a boost in the labor market, more for quantitative fields than for other fields.

Research universities are of course the most complex environments and the range of their activities is difficult to catalog in a short answer. In addition to providing instruction in hundreds of programs, they run hundreds of student clubs and organizations, contribute to the selection of high achieving students for graduate degrees, train and mentor graduate and professional students, produce thousands or tens of thousands of research papers annually, reach out to industrial partners, field semi-professional athletic teams, solve community problems, run tertiary care hospitals, patent new discoveries and attempt to create environments conducive to learning for a very wide variety of students. One could say that these activities, taken together, constitute the enacted purposes of research universities.

However, when you look at their activities from the perspective of public policy, the focus will tend to be on three main purposes: (1) human capital development (in other words, improving the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of students), (2) basic research and research in the national interest, and (3) the provision of access for students from lower-income and under-represented minority backgrounds. Implicitly, Two Cheers for Higher Education focuses more on these primary aims of public policy than on some of the ancillary activities of universities. Of course, some of the activities that could be considered ancillary—such as student clubs and the patenting of new discoveries—are clearly related to these public policy aims. For that reason, I do also discuss them at some length in the book.

At a time when we see stories of colleges closing, why is it that you argue that higher education is doing quite well?

We do see some colleges closing and more colleges merging. There’s always been a small number of colleges that close every year—usually fewer than a dozen—and more are opened for the first time than closed. We do hear a lot of talk about mergers in recent years, and some of the regional public universities in rural areas are definitely struggling. Where population is declining steadily, it becomes harder to make the case for the local college. But population is not declining in urban areas or in suburban areas around big cities. Here we see new colleges rising or existing colleges growing larger. Higher education is doing quite well in the parts of the country that are seeing growth in population and wealth. Sometimes higher education has been an important influence in attracting employers, new jobs, and new wealth. The state of Georgia is an interesting example. It now has the 10th largest economy of the 50 states, and the investments that state leaders and donors have made in Georgia Tech, Emory, the University of Georgia, and Georgia State University have played an important role in the state’s impressive development.

Though your book is largely positive about higher education, you note some concerns about the future of higher education. What are those?

According to public opinion surveys, the major concerns of Americans have to do with cost, the quality of undergraduate education, and liberal bias in the classroom. I address each of these issues in the book. One hopes that criminal justice reform may allow most of the 50 states to invest more heavily in higher education, reducing family’s burdens. I also advocate a universal, income-contingent loan repayment policy similar to the ones that already exist in England, Australia and several other countries. My research has led me to agree with the critics that the quality of undergraduate education is too low for too many. I show in the book how the lessons of the sciences of learning can be embedded without much more than forethought in even large lecture classes. The evidence on liberal bias is mixed. Clearly, minorities remain subject to many discriminatory and wounding acts on college campuses. At the same time, where we find a liberal orthodoxy there’s a risk that assumptions and commitments will substitute for evidence and reasoning. We do need more spaces on campus where contemporary social and political issues can be discussed and debated.

I also discuss what academic and political leaders can do about the threat to the physical campus represented by online competition , by the tremendous growth of campus administrative staff (compared to the slow growth of faculty), and the deplorable increase in poorly-paid and sometimes poorly-prepared adjunct instructors.

I hope that the evidence and recommendations that I provide will stimulate new thinking and action in each of these areas of concern. The U.S. is fortunate to have the strongest system of higher education in the world, but many problems arose during the period I cover. It will be important to address these problems before they undermine public support for institutions that are now central to the country’s future well-being.

Brint, S. G. (2018). Two cheers for higher education: Why American universities are stronger than ever--and how to meet the challenges they face . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Jonathan Wai, Ph.D. , is Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and the 21st Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy at the University of Arkansas.

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What you need to know about higher education

UNESCO, as the only United Nations agency with a mandate in higher education, works with countries to ensure all students have equal opportunities to access and complete good quality higher education with internationally recognized qualifications. It places special focus on developing countries, notably Africa. 

Why does higher education matter?  

Higher education is a rich cultural and scientific asset which enables personal development and promotes economic, technological and social change. It promotes the exchange of knowledge, research and innovation and equips students with the skills needed to meet ever changing labour markets. For students in vulnerable circumstances, it is a passport to economic security and a stable future. 

What is the current situation? 

Higher education has changed dramatically over the past decades with increasing enrolment, student mobility, diversity of provision, research dynamics and technology. Some 254 million students are enrolled in universities around the world – a number that has more than doubled in the last 20 years and is set to expand. Yet despite the boom in demand, the overall enrolment ratio is 42% with large differences between countries and regions. More than 6.4 million students are pursuing their further education abroad. And among the world’s more than 82 million refugees, only 7% of eligible youth are enrolled in higher education, whereas comparative figures for primary and secondary education are 68% and 34%, respectively ( UNHCR) . The COVID-19 pandemic further disrupted the way higher education was provided.

What does UNESCO do to ensure access for everyone to higher education? 

UNESCO's work is aligned with Target 4.3 of SDG 4 which aims, by 2030, “to ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university”. To achieve this, UNESCO supports countries by providing knowledge, evidence-based information and technical assistance in the development of higher education systems and policies based on the equal distribution of opportunities for all students. 

UNESCO supports countries to enhance recognition, mobility and inter-university cooperation through the ratification and implementation of the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education and regional recognition conventions . To tackle the low rate of refugee youth in higher education UNESCO has developed the UNESCO Qualifications Passport for Refugees and Vulnerable Migrants , a tool which makes it easier for those groups with qualifications to move between countries. The passport brings together information on educational and other qualifications, language, work history. UNESCO places a special focus on Africa with projects such as the Higher Technical Education in Africa project for a technical and innovative workforce supported by China Funds-in-Trust.  

​​​​​​​How does UNESCO ensure the quality of higher education? 

The explosion in demand for higher education and increasing internationalization means UNESCO is expanding its work on quality assurance, helping Member States countries to establish their own agencies and mechanisms to enhance quality and develop policies particularly in developing countries and based on the Conventions. Such bodies are absent in many countries, making learners more vulnerable to exploitative providers.  

It also facilitates the sharing of good practices and innovative approaches to widen inclusion in higher education. As part of this work, it collaborates with the International Association of Universities to produce the World Higher Education Database which provides information on higher education systems, credentials and institutions worldwide. 

​​​​​​​How does UNESCO keep pace with digital change?  

The expansion of connectivity worldwide has boosted the growth of online and blended learning, and revealed the importance of digital services, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Higher Education Management Information Systems in helping higher education institutions utilize data for better planning, financing and quality. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this transformation and increased the number of providers and the range of degree offerings from cross-border to offshore education. The Organization provides technical support and policy advice on innovative approaches to widening access and inclusion including through the use of ICTs and by developing new types of learning opportunities both on-campus and online. 

How does UNESCO address the needs of a changing job market?

Labour markets are experiencing rapid changes, with increased digitization and greening of economies, but also the rising internationalization of higher education. UNESCO places a strong emphasis on developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, indispensable to sustainable development and innovation. It aims to strengthen skills development for youth and adults, particularly literacy, TVET, STEM and higher education to meet individual, labour market and societal demands.  

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What’s the Value of Higher Education?

Have political and fiscal debates about higher education lost sight of the value of education for individuals and society? Dr. Johnnetta Cole discusses how universities can inform and inspire.

• Dr. Johnnetta Cole President Emerita, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art; President Emerita, Spelman College and Bennett College

This interview was conducted at the Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit , hosted by Yale SOM’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute on January 30, 2018.

The value of a college degree can be measured in a number of different ways: increased lifetime earnings potential, a network of classmates and fellow alumni, subject-matter expertise, a signal of stick-to-itiveness, potentially a marker of class or the capacity to move across classes. There are also less tangible benefits, like becoming a more well-rounded individual and part of a well-informed public.

Yale Insights recently talked with Dr. Johnnetta Cole about how she measures the value of higher education. Cole is the former president of Spelman College and Bennett College, the only two historically black colleges and universities that are exclusively women’s colleges. After retiring from academia, she served as the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. In addition, she served on the boards of a number of corporations, including Home Depot, Merck, and Coca-Cola. She was the first African-American chair of the board for the United Way of America.

Q: Why does higher education matter?

I would say that we could get widespread agreement on what I’m going to call the first purpose of higher education: through this amazingly powerful process of teaching and learning, students come to better understand the world.

There might be some disagreement on the second purpose. I’d say it is to inspire students to figure out how they can contribute to helping to make the world better. Certainly, higher education is about scholarship, but it’s also about service. It’s about creativity. It’s about matters of the mind, but it’s also, or at least it should be, about matters of the heart and the soul.

Q: Has the public perception of universities changed in recent years?

Throughout the history—and herstory—of higher education, there have been doubters, those who have critiqued it. But I have a concern, and some polls tell us, in this period in which we are living, many people believe that higher education is not contributing in a positive way to American life.

That’s something that we need to work on, those of us who are deeply engaged in and care about higher education, because I think when one looks with as much objectivity as possible, the truth is, and it’s always been, that higher education contributes substantially.

Q: You’ve led two historically black colleges for women. What is the role of special mission institutions?

In my view, we still need special mission institutions. Remember Brandeis, Notre Dame, and Brigham Young are special mission institutions.

With respect to historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), not every African American wants to or does go to an HBCU. The same is true of women and women’s colleges. But for those who wish that kind of education, and if the fit is right, it’s almost magical.

I think it is as basic as having an entire community believe that you can. On these campuses, we believe that black students can do whatever they set their minds to do. On the women’s campuses, we believe that women can reach heights that have not been imagined for women.

HBCUs are not totally free of racism. Women’s colleges are not utopias where there are no expressions of gender inequality or sexism. But they come far closer than at our predominately white and co-ed institutions.

Q: One of the big issues with higher education now is cost. How do we solve the affordability problem?

The affordability question is highly complex and serious. James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed that is not faced.” I believe that this is a perfect example. Colleges and universities are not just raising tuitions so they can make big profits. Pell grants are no longer at least a reasonable response to the affordability question.

We’ve got to figure this out because, in a democracy, accessibility to education is fundamental. The idea that something as precious, as powerful, as a solid education is only accessible to some and not to others, is an assault upon democracy.

Q: You came out of retirement to lead the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Why was the draw so strong?

I’ve managed, systematically, to get a failing grade in retirement.

I grew up in the South, in the days of legalized segregation—you could also call it state-sponsored racism. I didn’t have access to symphony halls. I didn’t have access to art museums. I still remember the library that I went to in order to travel the world through books, was the A. L. Lewis Colored Public Library.

As a young girl, I fell in love with the visual arts, especially African and African-American art. I went off to Fisk University at age 15 and began to see the real works of art for which we only had reproductions in my home. From Fisk, I went to Oberlin, where the Allen Memorial Art Gallery was a special place of solace for me

The opportunity with the Smithsonian wasn’t something I sought; I was asked to apply. My doctorate is in anthropology, not art history, so I was reluctant, but they told me they were looking for a leader, not an art historian. It was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. The work was an almost indescribable joy.

Generally, our museums across America do not reflect who America is, nor do they reflect how our world looks. They need to be far more diverse in terms of their boards, staff, exhibitions, educational programs, and visitorship.

What the African art museum has is a unique opportunity because it can speak to something that binds us together. If one is human, just go back far enough, I mean way back, and we have all come from a single place. It is called Africa.

Here’s a museum that says to its visitors, “No matter who you are, by race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability or disability, or nationality, come to a place where the visual arts connect you to the very cradle of humanity.”

During those eight years when I had the joy of being the director of the National Museum of African Art, I would greet our visitors by saying “Welcome home! Welcome to a place that presents the diverse and dynamic, the exquisite arts of Africa, humanity’s original home.”

Q: Do you think that our education and cultural institutions are properly valued in our society?

I have to say no. Because if we did, we would take better care of them. If we did, we would make sure that not some but all of our educational institutions from kindergarten through post-secondary education, into graduate and professional schools, have the means to do what needs to be done.

If we really value all of our cultural expressions, whether it’s dance or music, visual arts, theater, when there is a budget shortfall, we wouldn’t say, “These are the first things to go.” We wouldn’t say, “Kids can do without music in their public school.” It’s one thing to say we love an institution; it’s another to care for and protect an institution. I think we can do far better.

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• Published: 13 October 2017

Rethinking higher education and its relationship with social inequalities: past knowledge, present state and future potential

• Theocharis Kromydas 1  

Palgrave Communications volume  3 , Article number:  1 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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The purposes and impact of higher education on the economy and the broader society have been transformed through time in various ways. Higher education institutional and policy dynamics differ across time, but also between countries and political regimes and therefore context cannot be neglected. This article reviews the purpose of higher education and its institutional characteristics juxtaposing two, allegedly rival, conceptual frameworks; the instrumental and the intrinsic one. Various pedagogical traditions are critically reviewed and used as examples, which can potentially inform today’s policy making. Since, higher education cannot be seen as detached from all other lower levels of education appropriate conceptual links are offered throughout this article. Its significance lies on the organic synthesis of literature across social science, suggesting ways of going forward based on the traditions that already exist but seem underutilized so far because of overdependence in market-driven practices. This offers a new insight on how theories can inform policy making, through conceptual “bridging” and reconciliation. The debate on the purpose of higher education is placed under the context of the most recent developments of increasing social inequalities in the western world and its relation to the mass model of higher education and the relevant policy decisions for a continuous increase in participation. This article suggests that the current policy focus on labor market driven policies in higher education have led to an ever growing competition transforming this social institution to an ordinary market-place, where attainment and degrees are seen as a currency that can be converted to a labour market value. Education has become an instrument for economic progress moving away from its original role to provide context for human development. As a result, higher education becomes very expensive and even if policies are directed towards openness, in practice, just a few have the money to afford it. A shift toward a hybrid model, where the intrinsic purpose of higher education is equally acknowledged along with its instrumental purpose should be seen by policy makers as the way forward to create educational systems that are more inclusive and societies that are more knowledgeable and just.

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Dynamics of returns to vocational education in China: 2010–2017

Introduction.

The mainstream view in the western world, as informed by the human capital theory sees education, as an ordinary investment and the main reason why someone consumes time and money to undertake higher levels of education, is the high returns expected from the corresponding wage premium, when enters the labour market (Becker, 1964 , 1993 ). Nevertheless, things in practice are more complicated and this sequence of events is unlikely to be sustained, especially in recession periods like the one we currently live in. On the contrary, one notion of education, related somewhat to the American liberal arts tradition, is the intrinsic notion, which interprets that the purpose of education is to ‘equip people to make their own free, autonomous choices about the life they will lead’ (Bridges, 1992 : 92). There might be an economic basis underpinning this individual choice, but the intrinsic notion permits more subjective motivations, which are not necessarily affected by economic circumstances.

Robinson and Aronica ( 2009 ) argue that education, have become an impersonal linear process, a type of assembly line, similar to a factory production. They challenge this view and call for a less standardised pedagogy; more personalised to students needs as well as talents. Education is not similar to a manufacturing production-line, since students are highly concerned about the quality of education they receive as opposed to motor cars, which are indifferent to the process by which they are manufactured. Along these lines, Waters ( 2012 ), following Weber’s ( 1947 , 1968 ) rationale on the role of bureaucracy in modern societies, adds that this manufacturing process is achieved through rigid, rationalised and productively efficient but totally impersonal bureaucracy, operated in a way that sees children as raw materials for the creation of adults, which is the final product properly equipped to reproduce “itself” by being a parent to a new born “raw material” and so forth. Durkheim ( 1956 , 2006 ) sees this as a mechanism where adults exercise their influence over the younger in order to maintain the status quo they desire. However, since education entails ontological as well as epistemological implications, primary focus should be given to learning in such a way that educative and social functions could be amalgamated, rather than solely focusing on the delivery of existing knowledge per se, which becomes a reiterated process and an unchallenged absolute truth (Freire, 1970 ; Heidegger, 1988 ; Dall’ Alba and Barnacle, 2007 ).

This article focus on higher education; since it is the last stage before somebody enters the labour market and thus the instrumental view becomes more dominant over the intrinsic view, compared to the lower levels of education. Higher education, is being traditionally offered by universities. The first established university in Europe is the University of Bologna, where the term “academic freedom” was introduced as the kernel of its culture (Newman, 1996 ). Graham ( 2013 ) distinguishes between three different models of higher education. These are: the university college, the research and the technical university. He provides a historical review of the origins of these three models. The university college is the oldest one, where Christian values were the core values. Later on, when scientific knowledge questioned the universal theological truth, another type of university has been established, where research was the ultimate goal of the scholarship. This type of university has subsequently transformed by the introduction of the liberal arts tradition, flourished in the US. The research university model, originated circa 16 th century in Cambridge and established in Berlin by the introduction of the Humboldian University, shared a common aim: the pursuit of knowledge and its dissemination to the greater society. The third model of university is the technical one. It has been established in an industrial revolution context in Scotland and particularly in Glasgow in the premises of what is currently known as the University of Strathclyde. While the introduction of capitalism changed radically the structure and the format of labour relations, the technical model was based on the idea that industrial skills had to be acquired by formal education and somehow verified institutionally in order to be applied to the broader society. This is the first time where the up to then distinct fields of education and industry, started to be conceived as inextricably tight in a rather linear way.

These different models of higher education cultures and traditions still exist, but in reality, Universities worldwide follow a hybrid approach, where all traditions collaborate with each other. However, there are some universities that still carry the reputation and tradition of a specific model and to some extent this tradition differentiates them from all others. It is not the scope of this research to analyse this in detail, as the main aim is to offer an institutional and policy narrative, exploring the purpose of higher education and its relationship with social inequalities, focusing primarily on the western world.

Nowadays, in a rapidly changing word, the major debate is placed under the forms of institutional transformation of higher education. Brennan ( 2004 ), based on Trow ( 1979 , 2000 ), allocates three forms of higher education. The first one is the elite form, which main aim is to prepare and shape the mind-set of students originated from the most dominant class. The second is the mass form of higher education, which transmits the knowledge and skills acquired in higher education into the technical and economic roles students subsequently perform in the labour market. Lastly, the third is the universal form, which main purpose is to adapt students and the general population to the rapid social and technological changes.

This article reviews the contemporary trends in higher education and its widespread diffusion as interacted with the evolutions in western economies and societies, where social inequalities persist and even become wider (Dorling and Dorling, 2015 ). The narrative used in this article is more suitable to conceptualise higher education in a western world context, though we acknowledge that via globalisation, the way education and particularly higher education is delivered in the rest of the world seems to follow similar to the Western worlds paths, despite the apparent differences in culture, social and economic systems as well as writing systems. Footnote 1

An interdisciplinary and critical synthesis of the relevant literature is conducted, presenting two stances that are largely considered as rival: The instrumental one that treats higher education as an ordinary investment with particular financial yields in the labour market and the more intrinsic one which sees higher education as mainly detached from the logic of economic costs and benefits. The theoretical rivalry is apparent since in the former approach higher education is an inevitable property of labour market and thus an indispensable part of the mainstream economic neoliberal regime, whereas the latter sees no logical link between higher education and labour market purposes and therefore the content and substance of learning and knowledge acquisition in education and specifically in higher education should not be market-driven or aligned to the functions of specific economic regimes. However, this article argues that educational systems, and particularly their higher levels, are amalgamated parts of contemporary societies and therefore theories and practices need to move away from rather futile binary rationales.

The remainder of this paper explains why both the intrinsic and instrumental approaches are doomed to fail in practice when used in isolation. In a rapidly diverging and polarised world, where social inequalities rise within as well as between countries, common sense dictates social theories and practices to move towards reconciliation rather than stubborn rivalry. In that spirit, this paper argues that the intrinsic and instrumental approach are in fact complementary to each other. Such view can inform policy making towards building more inclusive educational systems; organically tight with the broader society. The narrative this article uses departs and expands on the rationale of eminent critical pedagogists such as Freire, Bronfenbrenner, Bourdieu and Kozol in order to challenge the current instrumental world-view of education, at least as this is apparent in the western world. Then the article moves into offering a reasoning for an organic synthesis of existing knowledge in order the two rival theories to be actualised in practice as a unified and reconciled pedagogical strategy. This reasoning builds on the research conducted by Durst’s ( 1999 ), Payne ( 1999 ) and Lu and Horner ( 2009 ). Durst ( 1999 ) suggests a “reflective instrumentalism”, where student’s pragmatic view that education is just a way of finding a well-paid job, operated in tandem with critical pedagogical canons, is indeed possible. Payne ( 1999 ) proposes a similar approach, where students are equipped with the necessary tools to find a job in the labour market; however educators should engage students with this knowledge in a critical way in order to be able to produce something new. Likewise Lu and Horner ( 2009 ) note that educators and students need to work together in such a way that perceptions of both are amenable to change and career choices are critically discussed in a constantly changing social context.

The purpose of higher education in western societies

Mokyr ( 2002 ) suggests that education should be integrated by both inculcation and emancipation in order to serve individual intellectual development as well as social progression. Shapiro ( 2005 ) emphasizes the need for the higher education institutions to serve a public purpose moving beyond narrow self-serving concerns, as well as to enforce social change in order to reflect the nature of a society that its members desire. More recently, in philosophical terms Barnett ( 2017 , p 10) calls for a wider conceptual landscape in higher education where “The task of an adequate philosophy of higher education…is not merely to understand the university or even to defend it but to change it”. )

The purpose of education and its meaning in the contemporary western societies has been also criticised by Bo ( 2009 ), suggesting that education has become a contradictory notion that leaves no space for emancipation since it gives no opportunity for improvisation to students. Thus, the students feel encaged within the system instead of being liberated. Bo agrees with Mokyr, who highlighted the need for recalling the basic notions of education from ancient philosophies: that education should be integrated by both inculcation and emancipation in order to serve individual intellectual development as well as social progression (Mokyr, 2002 ; Bo, 2009 ).

Not all individuals and societies agree on the purposes and roles of higher education in the modern world. However, in any case, it is a place where teaching and research can be accommodated in an organised fashion for the promotion of various types of knowledge, applied and non-applied. It is a place where money and moral values compete and collaborate simultaneously, where the development of labour market skills and competences coexist with the identification and utilisations of people’s skills and talents as well as the pursuit of employment, morality and citizenship.

The post-WWII era has been characterised by the mass model of higher education. Before this, higher education was for those belonging to higher social classes (Brennan, 2004 ). This model became the kernel of educational policies in Europe and generally, in the western world (Shapiro, 2005 ). Such policies have been boosted by the advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which enhance commercial and non-commercial bonds between countries and higher education institutions, transforming the role of higher education even further, making it rather universal (Jongbloed et al., 2008 ). Higher education’s boundaries have become vague and the predefined “social contract” between its institutions and those participated in them, is more complicated to be defined in absolute terms. Higher education institutions are now characterised by economic competition in a strict global market environment, where governments are not the key players anymore (Brennan, 2004 ).

Moreover, student demographics in higher education are constantly changing. Higher education is now an industry operating in a global market. Competition to attract talents from around the world is growing rapidly as an increasing number of countries offer additional graduate and post graduate positions to non-nationals, usually at a higher cost compared to nationals (Barber et al., 2013 ). Countries such as China or Singapore that are growing economically very rapidly are investing huge amounts of money to develop their higher education system and make it more friendly to talented people from around the world. The advent of new technologies have changed the traditional model of higher education, where physical presence is not a necessary requirement anymore (Yuan et al., 2013 ). Studying while working is much easier and therefore more mature students have now the opportunity to study towards a graduate or post-graduate degree. All these developments have increased the potential for profit; however it also requires huge amount of money to be invested in new technologies and all kinds of infrastructures and resources. The need for diversification in funding sources is simply essential and therefore all other industries become inevitably more engaged (Kaiser et al., 2014 ). On top of all these, climate change, the rise of terrorism, the prolonged economic uncertainty and the automazation of labour will likely increase cross-national and intraoccupational mobility and therefore the demand for higher education, especially in the recipient countries of the economically developed western world will inevitably rise. Summing up, higher education institutions operate under a very fluid and unpredictable environment and therefore approaches that are informed by adaptability and flexibility are absolutely crucial. The hybrid approach we propose where instrumental and intrinsic values are reconciled is along these lines.

Modern views of higher education place its function under a digital knowledge-based society, where economy dominates. Labour markets demand for skills such as technological competence and complex problem-solving by critical thinking and multitasking, which increases competition and in turn, accelerates the pace of the working day (Westerheijden et al., 2007 ). Haigh and Clifford ( 2011 ) argue that high competency, in both hard and soft skills, is not enough, as higher education needs to go deeper into changing attitudes and behaviours becoming the core of a globalised knowledge-based-economy. However, the trends of transferring knowledge and skills by universities, which “increasingly instrumentalize, professionalize, vocationalize, corporatize, and ultimately technologize education” (Thomson, 2001 : 244), have been extensively criticised in epistemological as well as in ontological terms (Bourdieu, 1998 ; Dall’ Alba and Barnacle, 2007 ). Livingstone ( 2009 ) argues that education and labour market have different philosophical departures and institutional principles to fulfill and therefore conceptualising them as concomitant economic events, with strong causal conjunctions, leads to logical fallacies. Livingstone sees the intrinsic purposes of education and contemporary labour market as rather contradictory than complimentary and any attempt to see them as the latter, leads to arbitrary and ambiguous outcomes, which in turn mislead rather than inform policy making. The current article, building on the arguments of Durst’s ( 1999 ), Payne ( 1999 ) and Lu and Horner ( 2009 ) challenges this view introducing a “bridging” rationale between the two theories, which can be also actualized in practice and inform policy making.

When education, and especially higher education, is considered as a public social right that everyone should have access to, human capital, as solely informed by the investment approach, cannot be seen as the most appropriate tool to explain the benefits an individual and society can gain from education. Citizenship can be regarded as one of these tools and perhaps concepts, such as the social and c ultural capital or habitus , which contrary to human capital acknowledge that students are not engaged with education just to succeed high returns in the labour market but apart from the economic capital, should be of equal importance when we try to offer a better explanation of the individuals’ drivers to undertake higher education. (Bourdieu, 1986 ; Coleman, 1988 ). Footnote 2 For example, Bourdieu ( 1984 ) thinks that certificates and diplomas are neither indications of academic or applied to the labour market knowledge, nor signals of competences but rather take the form of tacit criteria set by the ruling class to identify people from a particular social origin. Yet, Bourdieu does not disregard the human capital theory as invalid; however he remains very sceptical on its narrow social meaning as it becomes a property of ruling class and used as a mechanism to maintain their power and tacitly reproduce social inequalities.

Higher education attainment cannot be examined irrespectively of someone’s capabilities, as its conceptual framework presupposes a social construction of interacting and competing individuals, fulfilling a certain and, sometimes common to all, task each time. Capabilities, certainly, exist in and out of this context, as it includes both innate traits and acquired skills in a dynamic social environment. Sen ( 1993 : 30) defines capability as “a person’s ability to do valuable acts or reach valuable states of being; [it] represents the alternative combinations of things a person is able to do or be”. Moreover, Sen argues that capabilities should not be seen only as a means for succeeding a certain goal, but rather as an end itself (Sen, 1985 ; Saito, 2003 ; Walker and Unterhalter, 2007 ).

Capabilities are a prerequisite of well-being and therefore, social institutions should direct people into fulfilling this aim in order to feel satisfied with their lives. However, since satisfaction is commonly understood as a subjective concept, it cannot be implied that equal levels of life satisfaction, as these perceived by people of different demographic and socio-economic characteristics, mean social and economic equality. Usually, the sense of life satisfaction is relative to future expectations, aspirations and past empirical experiences, informed by the socio-economic circumstances people live in (Saito, 2003 ).

According to the capability approach, assessing the educational attainment of individuals or the quality of teachers and curriculum are not such useful tasks, if not complemented by the capacity of a learner to convert resources into capabilities. Sen’s ( 1985 , 1993 ) capability approach, challenges the human capital theory, which sees education as an ordinary investment undertaken by individuals. It also remains sceptical towards structuralist and post-structruralist approaches, which support the dominance of institutional settings and power over the individual acts. According to Sen ( 1985 , 1993 ), educational outcomes, as these are measured by student enrolments, their performance on tests or their expected future income, are very poor indicators for evaluating the overall purpose of education, related to human well-being. Moreover, the capability approach does not imply that education can only enhance peoples’ capabilities. It also implies that education, can be detrimental, imposing severe life-long disadvantages to individuals and societies, if delivered poorly (Unterhalter, 2003 , 2005 ).

From Sen’s writings, it is not clear whether the capability approach imply a distinction between instrumental and intrinsic values. Even if someone attempts an interpretation of the capability approach by arguing that it is only means that have an instrumental value, whereas ends only an intrinsic one, it is still unclear how can we draw a line between means and ends in a rather objective way. Escaping from this rather dualistic interpretation, a common-sense argument seems apparent: Capabilities have both intrinsic and instrumental value. Material resources can be obtained through people’s innate talents and acquired skills; however through the same resources transformed into capabilities a person who does not see this as an end but rather as a means, can also become a trusted member of the community and a good citizen, given that some kind of freedom of choice exists. Thus, resources apart from their instrumental value can also have an intrinsic one, with the caveat that the person chooses to conceive them as means towards a socially responsible end.

The American tradition in student development goes back to the liberal arts tradition, which main aim is to build a free person as an active member of a civic society. The essence of this tradition can be found in Nussbaum ( 1998 : 8)

“When we ask about the relationship of a liberal education to citizenship, we are asking a question with a long history in the Western philosophical tradition. We are drawing on Socrates’ concept of ‘the examined life,’ on Aristotle’s notions of reflective citizenship, and above all on Greek and Roman Stoic notions of an education that is ‘liberal’ in that it liberates the mind from bondage of habit and custom, producing people who can function with sensitivity and alertness as citizens of the whole world.”

Nowadays, liberal arts tradition is regarded as the delivery of interdisciplinary education across the social sciences but also beyond that, aiming to prepare students for the challenges they are facing both as professionals and as members of civic society. However, as Kozol notes in reality things are quite different (Kozol, 2005 , 2012 ). Kozol devoted much of his work examining the social context of schools in the US by focusing on the interrelationships that exist, maintained or transformed between students, teachers and parents. He points out that segregation and local disparities in the US schools are continuously increasing. The US schools and especially urban schools are seen as distinctive examples of institutions where social discrimination propagates while the US educational system currently functions as a mechanism of reproducing social inequality. Kozol is very critical on the instrumental purpose of market-driven education as this places businesses and commerce as the “key players”, since they shape the purpose, content and curriculum of education. At the same time, students, their parents as well as teachers, whose roles should have been essential, are displaced into some kind of token participants.

Hess ( 2004 ) might agree that US schools have become vehicles of increasing social inequalities but he suggest a very different to Kozol’s approach. Since schools are social institutions that operate and constantly interact with the rest of economy they have to become accountable in the way that ordinary business are, at least when it comes to basic knowledge delivery. Hess insists that all schools across the US should be able to deliver high quality basic knowledge and literacy. Such knowledge can be easily standardised and a national curriculum, equal and identical to all US school can be designed. By this, all schools are able to deliver high quality basic knowledge and all pupils, irrespective of their social background, would be able to receive it. Then, each school, teacher and pupil are held accountable for their performance and failure to meet the national standards should result in schools closed down, teachers laid off and pupils change school environment or even lose their chance to graduate. Hess distinguishes between two types of reformers; the status quo reformers who do not challenge the state control education and the common-sense reformers who are in favour of a non-bureaucratic educational system, governed by market competition, subjected to accountability measures similar to those used in the ordinary business world.

While Hess presents evidence that the problem in higher education is not underfunding but efficiency in spending, the argument he makes that schools can only reformed and flourish through the laws of market competition is not adequately backed up as there are plenty of examples in many industrial sectors, where the actual implementation of market competition instead of opening up opportunities for the more disadvantaged, has finally generated huge multinationals corporations, which operate in a rather monopolistic or at best oligopolistic environment, satisfying their own interests on the expense of the most deprived and disadvantaged members of the society. The ever growing increasing competition in the financial, pharmaceutical or IT software and hardware (Apple Microsoft, IOS and Android software etc.) sectors have not really helped the disadvantaged or the sector itself but rather created powerful “too big to fail” corporations that dominate the market if not own it.

Hess indeed believes that the US educational system apart from preparing students for the labour market has a social role to fulfil. When the purpose of higher education is solely labour market-oriented teaching and learning become inadequate to respond to the social needs of a well-functioned civic democracy, which requires active learners and critical thinkers who, apart from having a job and a profession, are able “ to frame and express their thoughts and participate in their local and national communities”(p. 4) . Creating rigorous standards for basic knowledge in all US schools is a goal that is sound and rather achievable. However, when such goals are based on a Darwinian like competition and coercion where only the fittest can survive they become rather inapplicable for satisfying the needs of human development, equity and sustainable social progress.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory ( 1979 , 2005 , 2009 ) (subsequently named from Bronfenbrenner himself as bioecological systems theory) is also an example of schools as organic ingredients of a single concentric system that includes four sub systems; the micro, the meso, the exo and the macro as well as the chronosystem that refers to the change of the other four through time. The Micro system involves activities and roles that are experienced through interpersonal relationships such as the family, schools, religious or social institutions or any interactions with peers. The meso system includes the relationships developed between the various microsystem components, such as the relationship between school and workplace or family and schools. The exosystem comprises various interactions between systems that the person who is in the process of development does not directly participates but influence the way microsystems function and impact on the person. Some examples of exosystems are the relationships between family and peers of the developing person, family and schools, etc. The macrosystem incorporates all these things that can be considered as cultural environment and social context in which the developing person lives. Finally, the chronosystem introduces a time dimension, which encompasses all other sub-systems, subjecting them to the changes occurred through time. All these systems constantly interact, shaping a dynamic, complex but also natural ecological environment, in which a person develops its understanding of the world. In practical terms, this theory has found application in Finland, gradually transforming the Finish educational system to such a degree that is now considered the best all over the world (Määttä and Uusiautti, 2014 ; Takala et al., 2015 ). Finally, Bronfenbrenner is also an advocate that poverty and social inequalities are developed not because of differences in individual characteristics and capabilities but because of institutional constraints that are insurmountable to those from a lower socio-economic background.

Freire ( 1970 , 2009 ) criticizes the way schooling is delivered in contemporary societies. The term he uses to describe the current state of education is “banking education”, where teachers and students have very discrete roles with the former to be perceived as depositors of knowledge and the latter as depositories. This approach sees the knowledge acquired within the institutional premises of formal education as an absolute truth, where reality is perceived as something static aiming to preserve the status quo in education and in turn in society and satisfy the interests of the elite. This actual power play means that those who hold knowledge and accept its acquiring procedure as static, become the oppressors whereas those who either lack knowledge or even hold it but challenge it in order to transform it, the oppressed. From the one side the oppressors achieve to maintain their dominance over the oppressed and on the other side the oppressed accept their inferior role as an unchallenged normality where their destiny is predetermined and can never be transformed. Therefore, through this distinction of social roles, social inequalities are maintained and even intensified through time. Freire sees the “banking education” approach as a historical hubris since social reality is a process of constant transformation and hence, it is by definition dynamic and non-static. What we actually know today cannot determine our future social roles, neither can prohibit individuals from challenging and transforming it into something new (Freire, 1970 ; Giroux, 1983 ; Darder, 2003 ).

The banking education approach resembles very much the ethos of the human capital theory, where individuals utilise educational attainment as an investment instrument for succeeding higher wages in the future and also climb the levels of social hierarchy. The assumption of linearity between past individual actions and future economic and social outcomes is at the core of banking education and thus human capital theory. However, this assumption introduces a serious logical fallacy that surprisingly policy makers seem to value very little nowadays, at least in the Western societies. Freire ( 2009 ) apart from criticizing the current state of education argues that a pedagogical approach that “demythologize” and unveils reality by promoting dialogue between teachers and students create critical thinkers, who are engaged in inquiry in order to create social reality by constantly transforming it. This is the process of problem-posing education , which aligns its meaning with the intrinsic view of education that regards human development as mainly detached from the acquisition of material objects and accumulation of wealth through increased levels of educational attainment.

Originated in Germany, the term Bildung —at least as this was interpreted from 18 th century onwards, after Middle Ages era where everything was explained in the prism of a strict and theocratic society- shaped the philosophy by which the German educational system has been functioning even until nowadays (Waters, 2016 ). Bildung aims to provide the individual education with the appropriate context, through which can reach high levels of professional development as well as citizenship. It is a term strongly associated with the liberation of mind from superstition and social stereotypes. Education is assumed to have philosophical underpinnings but it needs, as philosophy itself as a whole does too, to be of some practical use and therefore some context needs to be provided Footnote 3 (Herder, 2002 ).

For Goethe ( 2006 ) Bildung , is a self-realisation process that the individual undertakes under a specific context, which aims to inculcate altruism where individual actions are consider benevolent only if they are able to serve the general society. Although Bildung tradition, from the one hand, assumes that educational process should be contextualised, it approach context as something fluid that is constantly changing. Therefore, it sees education as an interactive and dynamic process, where roles are predetermined; however at the same time they are also amenable to constant transformation (Hegel, 1977 ). Consequently, this means that Bildung tradition is more closely to what Freire calls problem-posing education and therefore to the intrinsic notion of education. Weber ( 1968 ), looked on the Bildung tradition as a means to educate scientists to be involved in policy making and overcome the problems of ineffective bureaucracy. Waters ( 2016 ) based on his experiences with teaching in German higher education argue that the Bildung tradition is still apparent today in the educational system in Germany.

However, higher education, as an institution, involves students, teachers, administrators, policy makers, workers, businessmen, marketers and generally, individuals with various social roles, different demographic characteristics and even different socio-economic backgrounds. It comes natural that their interests can be conflicting and thus, they perceive the purpose of higher education differently.

Higher education expansion and social inequalities: contemporary trends

Higher education enrolment rates have been continuously rising for the last 30 years. In Europe, and especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, policies are directed towards widening the access to higher education to a broader population (Bowl, 2012 ). However, it is very difficult for policy-makers to design a framework towards openness in higher education, mainly due to the heterogeneity of the population the policies are targeted upon. Such population includes individuals from various socio-economic, demographic, ethnic, innate ability, talent orientation or disability groups, as well as people with very different social commitments and therefore the vested interests of each group contradict each other, rendering policy-making an extremely complicated task (CFE and Edge Hill University, 2013 ).

A collection of essays, edited by Giroux and Myrsiades ( 2001 ), provided valuable insights to the humanities and social sciences literature regarding the notion of corporate university and its implications to society’s structure. As Williams ( 2001 : 18) notes in one of this essays:

“Universities are now being conscripted directly as training grounds for the corporate workforce…university work has been more directly construed to serve not only corporate-profit agendas via its grant-supplicant status, but universities have become franchises in their own right, reconfigured to corporate management, labor, and consumer models and delivering a name-brand product”.

Chang et al. ( 2013 ) argues that institutional purposes do not always coincide with the expectations students have from their studies. In most cases, students hold a more pragmatic and instrumental understanding towards the purpose of higher education, primarily aiming for a better-paid and high quality jobs.

Arum and Roksa ( 2011 ) claim that students during their studies in higher education make no real progress in critical thinking and complex problem-solving. Nonetheless, it is notable that those who state that they seek some “deeper meaning” in higher education, looking at a broader picture of things, tend to perform better than those who see university through instrumental lenses (Entwistle and Peterson, 2004 ). These findings question the validity of the instrumental view in higher education as it seems that those that are intrinsically motivated to attend higher education, end up performing much better in higher education and also later on in the labour market. Therefore, in practice, the theoretical rivalry between the intrinsic and instrumental approach operate in a rather dialectic manner, where interactions between social actors move towards a convergence, despite the focus given by policy makers on the instrumental view.

Bourdieu ( 1984 , 1986 , 1998 , 2000 ) based on his radical democratic politics, argued that education inequalities are just a transformation of social inequalities and a way of reproduction of social status quo. Aronowitz ( 2004 ) acknowledged that the main function of public education in the US is to prepare students to meet the changes, occurred in contemporary workplaces. Even if this instrumental model involves the broad expansion of educational attainment, it also fails to alleviate class-based inequalities. He is in line with Bourdieu’s argument that social class relations are reproduced through schooling, as schools reinforce, rather than reduce, class-based inequalities. More recently, similar findings from various countries are very common in the literature (Chapman et al., 2011 ; Stephens et al., 2015 )

Apple ( 2001 ) argues that despite neoliberalism’s claims that privatisation, marketization, harmonisation and generally the globalisation of educational systems increase the quality of education, there are considerable findings in numerous studies that show that the expansion of higher education happens in tandem with the increase of income inequality and the aggravation of racial, gender and class differences. Gouthro ( 2002 ) argues that there has been a misrepresentation of the basic notions that characterise the purpose of education, such as critical thinking, justice and equity. Ganding and Apple ( 2002 ) went one step further by suggesting an alternative solution, which lies on the decentralisation of educational systems, using the “Citizen School” as an example of an educational institution, which prioritises quality in education and its provision to impoverished people. Finally, they call for a radical structural reform on educational systems worldwide, where the relationship between various social communities and the state is based on social justice and not on power.

Brown and Lauder ( 2006 ) investigated the impact of the fundamental changes on education, as related to the influence that various socio-economic and cultural factors have on policy making. Remaining sceptical against the empirical validity of human capital theory, they conclude that it cannot be guaranteed that graduates will secure employment and higher wages. Contrary to Card and Lemieux’s ( 2001 ) findings, the authors argue that when the wage-premium is not measured by averages, but is split in deciles within graduates, it is only the high-earning graduates that have experienced an increasing wage-gap during this period. Increasing incidences of over-education, due to an ever-increasing supply of graduates compared to the relatively modest growth rates of high-skilled jobs, have also been observed. Any differences in pay, between graduates and non-graduates, can be ascribed more to the stagnation of non-graduates' pay, rather than to graduates’ additional pay, because of their higher educational attainment. More recently, Mettler ( 2014 ) argues that the focus on corporate interests in policy making in the US has transformed higher education into a caste system that reproduces and also intensifies social inequalities.

There are evidence, which illustrate that families play a distinctive role in encouraging children’s abilities and traits through a warm and friendly family environment. As higher education requires a significant amount of money to be invested, families with high-income have more chances and means to promote their children’s abilities and traits as well as their career prospects, when compared with the low-income ones. Certainly, there are other factors, which can affect children’s prospects, but the advantage in favour of high-income families is relatively apparent in the empirical literature (Solon, 1999 ).

Livingstone and Stowe ( 2007 ), based on the General Social Survey (GSS), conducted an empirical study on the school completion rates partitioning individuals into family and class origin, residential area as well as race and gender. They focused on the relatively low completion rates of low-class individuals, from the inner city and rural areas of the US. Their findings reveal that working-class children are being discriminated on their school completion rates, compared with the mid- and high-class children. Race and gender discrimination has been detected in rural areas but not in inner cities and suburb areas, where the completion rates are more balanced.

Stone ( 2013 ), finally sees things from a very different perspective, where inequalities exist mainly because of simply bad luck. He argues in favour of lots, when a university has to decide whether to accept an applicant or not. Even if, an argument like this seems highly controversial, it consists of something that has been implemented in many countries, several times in the past (Hyland, 2011 ). The argument that an individual deserves a place in university just because he/she scored higher marks in a standardised sorting examination test does not prove that he/she will perform better in his/her subsequent academic tasks. Likewise, if an individual, who failed to secure a place in university due to low marks, was given a chance to enter university through a different procedure, he/she might have performed exceptionally well. Yet, human society cannot solely depend on lotteries and computer random algorithms, but sometimes, up to a certain point and in the name of fairness and transparency, there is a strong case for also looking on the merits for using one (Stone, 2013 ).

Furthermore, Lowe ( 2000 ) argued that the widening of higher education participation can create a hyper-inflation of credentials, causing their serious devaluation in the labour market. This relates to the concept of diploma disease, where labour markets create a false impression that a higher degree is a prerequisite for a job and therefore, induce individuals to undertake them only for the sake of getting a job (Dore, 1976 ; Collins, 1979 ). This situation can create a highly competitive credential market, and even if there are indications of higher education expansion, individuals from lower social class do not have equal opportunities to get a degree, which can lead them to a more prestigious occupational category. This is, in turn, very similar to the Weberian theory of educational credentialism, where credentials determine social stratum (Brown, 2003 ; Karabel, 2006 ; Douthat, 2005 ; Waters, 2012 ).

The concept of credential inflation has been extensively debated from many scholars, who question the role of formal education and the usefulness of the acquisition of skills within universities (Dore 1997 ; Collins, 1979 ; Walters, 2004 ; Hayes and Wynard, 2006 ). Evans et al. ( 2004 ) focuses on the tacit skills, which cannot be acquired by formal learning, mainly obtained by work and life experience as well as informal learning. These skills are competences related to the way a complex situation could be best approached or resemble to personal traits, which can be used for handling unforeseen situations.

Policy implications

Higher educational attainment that leads to a specific academic degree is a dynamic procedure, but with a pre-defined end. This renders the knowledge acquired there, as obsolete. Policies, such as Bologna Declaration supports an agenda, where graduates should be further encouraged to engage with on-the-job training and life-long education programmes (Coffield, 1999 ). Other scholars argue that institutions should have a broader role, acknowledging the benefits that higher educational attainment bring to societies as a whole by the simultaneous promotion of productivity, innovation and democratisation as well as the mitigation of social inequalities (Harvey, 2000 ; Hayward and James, 2004 ). Boosting employability for graduates is crucial and many international organisations are working towards the establishment of a framework, which can ensure that higher education satisfies this aim (Diamond et al., 2011 ). Yet, this can have negative side-effects making the employability gap between high- and low-skilled even wider, since there is no any policy framework specifically designed for low-skilled non-graduates on a similar to Bologna Declaration, supranational context. Heinze and Knill ( 2008 ) argue that convergence in higher education policy-making, as a result of the Bologna Process, depends on a combination of cultural, institutional and socio-economic national characteristics. Even if, it can be assumed that more equal countries, in terms of these characteristics, can converge much easier, it is still questionable if and how much national policy developments have been affected by the Bologna Declaration.

However, the political narrative of equal opportunities in terms of higher education participation rates does not seem very convincing (Brown and Hesketh, 2004 ; The Milburn Commission, 2009 ). It appears that a consensus has been reached in the relevant literature that there is a bias towards graduates from the higher social classes, but it has been gradually decreasing since 1960 (Bekhradnia, 2003 ; Tight, 2012 ). Nonetheless, despite the fact that, during the last few decades, there has been an improvement in the participation rates for the most vulnerable groups, such as women and ethnic minorities, the inequality is still obvious in some occasions (Greenbank and Hepworth, 2008 ). Machin and Van Reenen ( 1998 ) trace the causes of the under-participation in an intergenerational context, arguing that the positive relationship between parental income and participation rates is apparent even from the secondary school. Likewise, Gorard ( 2008 ) identifies underrepresentation on the previous poor school performance, which leads to early drop-outs in the secondary education, or into poor grades, which do not allow for a place in higher education. Other researchers argue that paradoxically, educational inequality persists even nowadays, albeit the policy orientation worldwide towards the widening of higher education participation across all social classes (Burke, 2012 ; Bathmaker et al., 2013 ).

There are different aspects on the purpose of higher education, which particularly, under the context of the ongoing economic uncertainty, gain some recognition and greater respect from academics and policy-makers. Lorenz ( 2006 ) notes that the employability agenda, which is constantly promoted within higher education institutions lately, cannot stand as a sustainable rationale in a diverse global environment. This harmonisation and standardisation of higher education creates permanent winners and losers, centralising all the gains, monetary and non-monetary, towards the most dominant countries, particularly towards Anglo-phone countries and specific industries and therefore social inequalities increase between as well as within countries. Some scholars call this phenomenon as Englishization (Coleman, 2006 ; Phillipson, 2009 ).

Tomusk ( 2002 , 2004 ) positioned education within the general framework of the recent institutional changes and the rapid rise of the short-term profits of the financial global capital. Specifically, the author sees World Bank as a transnational organisation. Given this, any loan agreement planned from the World Bank regarding higher education reforms in developing countries, has the same ultimate, but tacit, goal, which is the continuous rise of the national debt and in turn, the vitiation of national fiscal and monetary policies, in order the human resources of the so called “recipient countries”, to be redistributed in favour of a transnational dominant class.

Hunter ( 2013 ) places the debate under a broader political framework, juxtaposing neo-liberalism with the trends formulated by the OECD. She concludes that OECD is a very complex and multi-vocal organisation and when it comes to higher education policy suggestions, there is not any clear trend, especially towards neo-liberalism. This does not mean that economic thinking is not dominant within the OECD. This is, in fact, OECD’s main concern and it is clear to all. Hunter ( 2013 : 15–16) accordingly states that:

“Some may feel offended by the vocational and economic foci in OECD discourse. Many would like to see HE held up for “higher” ideals. However, it is fair for OECD to be concerned with economics. They do not deny that they are primarily an organization concerned with economics. It is up to us, the readers, politicians, scholars, voters, teachers, administrators, and policy makers, to be aware that this is an economic organization and be careful of from whom we get our assumptions”.

Hyslop-Margison ( 2000 ) investigated how the market economy affects higher education in Canada, when international organisations and Canadian business interfere in higher education policy making, under the support of government agencies. He argues that such economy-oriented policies deteriorate curriculum theory and development.

Letizia ( 2013 ) criticises market-oriented reforms, enacted by The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011, placing them within the context of market-driven policies informed by neoliberalism, where social institutions, such as higher education, should be governed by the law of free market. According to Letizia, this will have very negative implications to the humanistic character of education, affecting people’s intellectual and critical thinking, while perpetuating social inequalities.

The term Mcdonaldisation has been also used recently to capture functional similarities and trends in common, between higher education and ordinary commercial businesses. Thus, efficiency, calculability, predictability and maximisation are high priorities in the American and British educational systems and because of their global influence, these characteristics are being expanding worldwide (Hayes and Wynard, 2006 ; Garland, 2008 ; Ritzer, 2010 ).

The notion of Mcdonaldisation is very well explained by Garland ( 2008 , no pagination):

“Mcdonaldisation can be seen as the tendency toward hyper-rationalisation of these same processes, in which each and every task is broken down into its most finite part, and over which the individual performing it has little or no control becoming all by interchangeable. It may be argued that the labour processes involved in advanced technological capitalism increasingly depend on either the handling and processing of information, or provision of services requiring instrumentalised forms of communication and interaction, just as the same “professional” roles frequently consist of largely mechanized, functional tasks requiring a minimum of individual input or initiative, let alone creative or critical thought, a process illustrated in blackly comic by the 1999 film Office Space”.

Realistically, higher education cannot be solely conceptualised by the human capital approach and similar quantitative interpretations, as it has cultural, psychological, idiosyncratic and social implications. Additionally, Hoxby ( 1996 ) argued that policy environment and systems of governance in higher education play a significant role to an individuals’ decision-making process to obtain further education and unfortunately, policy makers regard this aspect as static that can never be transformed.

Lepori and Bonaccorsi ( 2013 ), following Latour and Woolgar’s ( 1979 ) rationale of the high importance of vested interest in scientific endeavours, argue that higher education trends are too complex to be reduced and captured adequately, by the use of economic indicators as related to the labour market. However, the market and money value of higher education should not be neglected, especially in developing countries, as there is evidence that it can help people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and therefore it has a practical and more pragmatic purpose to fulfil (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004 ). According to World Bank ( 2013 ), education can contribute to a significant decrease of the number of poor people globally and increase social mobility when it manages to provides greater opportunities for children coming from poor families. There are also other studies that do not only focus to strict economic factors, but also to the contribution of educational attainment to fertility and mortality rates as well as to the level of health and the creation of more responsible and participative citizens, bolstering democracy and social justice (Council of Europe, 2004 ; Osler and Starkey, 2006 ; Cogan and Derricott, 2014 ).

Mountford-Zimdars and Sabbagh ( 2013 ), analysing the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, offer a plausible explanation on why the widening of participation in higher education is not that easy to be implemented politically, in the contemporary western democracies. The majority of the people, who have benefited from higher educational attainment in monetary and non-monetary terms, are reluctant to support the openness of higher education to a broader population. On the contrary, those that did not succeed or never tried to secure a place in a higher education institute, are very supportive of this idea. This clash of interests creates a political perplexity, making the process of policy-making rather dubious. Therefore, the apparent paradox of the increase in higher educational attainment, along with a stable rate in educational inequalities, does not seem that strange when vested interests of certain groups are taken into account.

Moreover, the decision for someone to undertake higher education is not solely influenced by its added value in the labour market. Since an individual is exposed to different experiences and influences, strategic decisions can easily change, especially when these are taken from adolescents or individuals in their early stages of their adulthood. Given this, perceptions and preferences do change with ageing and this is why there are some individuals who drop out from university, others who choose radical shifts in their career or others who return to education after having worked in the labour market for many years and in different types of jobs.

Higher education has expanded rapidly after WWII. The advent of new technologies dictates the enhancement of people’s talents and skills and the creation of a knowledge-based-economy, which in turn, demands for even more high-skilled workers. Policy aims for higher education in the western world is undoubtedly focusing on its diffusion to a broader population. This expansion is seen as a policy instrument to alleviate social and income inequalities. However, the implementation of such policies has been proved extremely difficult in practise, mainly because of existent conflicted interests between groups of people, but also because of its institutional incapacity to target the most vulnerable. Nonetheless, it has been observed a constant marketization process in higher education, making it less accessible to people from poor economic background. Concerns on the persistence of policy-makers to focus primarily on the economic values of higher education have been increasingly expressed, as strict economic reasoning in higher education contradicts with political claims for its continuing expansion.

On the other hand, there are studies arguing that the instrumental model can make the transition of graduates into the labour market smoother. Such studies are placed under the mainstream economics framework and are also informed by policy decisions implemented by the Bologna Process, where competitiveness, harmonisation and employability are the main policy axes. The Bologna Process and various other institutions (e.g., the EU, World Bank, OECD) have provided a framework under which higher education can be seen as inextricably linked with labour market dynamics; however, the intrinsic notion of higher education is treated more as a nuisance and less as a vital component on this framework. Nevertheless, this makes the job competition between graduates much more intense and also creates very negative implications for those that remain with low qualifications as they effectively become socially and economically marginalised.

The purpose of higher education and its role in modern societies remains a heated philosophical debate, with strong practical and policy implications. This article sheds more light to this debate by presenting a synthetic narrative of the relevant literature, which can be used as a basis for future theoretical and empirical research in understanding contemporary trends in higher education as interwoven with the evolutions in the broader socio-economic sphere. Specifically, two conflicting theoretical stances have been discussed. The mainstream view primarily aims to assist individuals to increase their income and their relative position in the labour market. On the other hand, the intrinsic notion focus on understanding its purpose under ontological and epistemological considerations. Under this conceptual framework, the enhancement of individual creativity and emancipation are in conflict with the contemporary institutional settings related to power, dominance and economic reasoning. This conflict can influence people’s perceptions on the purpose of higher education, which can in turn perpetuate or otherwise revolutionise social relations and roles.

However, even if the two theoretical stances presented are regarded as contradictory, this article argues that, in practical terms, they can be better seen as complementing each other. From one hand, using an instrumental perspective, an increase in higher education participation, focusing particularly on the most vulnerable and deprived members of society, can alleviate problems of income and social inequalities. The instrumental view of education has a very important role to play if focused on lower-income social classes, as it can become the mechanism towards the alleviation of income inequalities. On the other hand, apart from the pecuniary, there are also other non-pecuniary benefits associated with this, such as the improvement in the fertility and mortality and general health level rates or the boost of active democracy and citizenship even within workplaces and therefore a shift of higher education towards its intrinsic purposes is also needed. (Bowles and Gintis, 2002 ; Council of Europe, 2004 ; Brennan, 2004 ; Brown and Lauder, 2006 ; Wolff and Barsamian, 2012 ).

Summing up, education is not a simply just another market process. It is not just an institution that supply graduates as products that have some predetermined value in the labour market. Consequently, acquired knowledge in education verified by college degrees is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the labour market to create appropriate jobs, where graduates utilise and expand this knowledge. In fact, the increasing costs of higher education, mostly due to its internationalisation, and the rising levels of job mismatch create a rather gloomy picture of the current economic environment, which seems to preserve the well-paid jobs mostly to those from a certain socio-economic class background. At the same time, poor students are vastly disadvantaged to more wealthy ones, considering the huge differences in terms of higher as well as their past education, their parent’s education and also certain elitist traditions that work towards perpetuating power relations in favour of the dominant class.

As Castoriadis ( 1997 ) notes, it is impossible to separate education from its social context. We, as human beings, acquire knowledge, in the sense of what Castoriadis calls paideia , from the day we born until the day we die. We are being constantly developed and transformed along with the social transformations that happen around us. The transformation on the individual is in constant interaction with social transformations, where no cause and effect exists. Formal schooling has become nowadays an apathetic task where no real engagement with learning happens, while its major components such as educators, families and students are largely disconnected with each other. Educators, cynically execute the teaching task that a curriculum dictates each time, families’ main concern is to attach a market value to their children educational attainment, “labelling” them with a credential that the labour market allegedly desires, while students pay attention to anything else apart from the knowledge they get per se and therefore they care too little for its quality and also its practical use.

To tackle the ever-growing social inequalities due to the narrow economic policy making in education, we need a radical shift towards policies that are informed from Freire’s problem-posing education and Sen’s capabilities approach, get insights in terms of structure from Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory, while giving context according to the Bildung tradition also acknowledging that education, apart from instrument, is a vehicle towards liberation, cultural realisation as well as social transformation. In practical terms, real-world examples from Finland or Germany can be used, which policy makers from around the world should start paying more attention to, moving away from narrow and sterile instrumentalism that has spectacularly failed to tackle social inequalities.

In the context of a modern world where monetary costs and benefits are the basis of policy arguments, a massification and broader diffusion of higher education to a much broader population implies marketisation and commercialisation of its purpose and in turn its inclusion on an economy-oriented model where knowledge, skills, curriculum and academic credentials inevitably presuppose a money-value and have a financial purpose to fulfil. The policy trends towards an economy-based-knowledge, through a strict instrumental reasoning, rather than the alleged knowledge-based-economy seems to persist and prevail, albeit its poor performance on alleviating income and social inequalities. Yet, in a global context of a prolonged economic stagnation and a continuous deterioration of society’s democratic reflexes, a shift towards a model, where knowledge is not subdued to economic reasoning, can inform a new societal paradigm of a genuine knowledge-based-economy, where economy would become a means rather than an ultimate goal for human development and social progress.

Data availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

For example, Confucian tradition is very rich, when it comes to education and human development. It is indeed very interesting to see how the basic principles of Confucian education, such as humanism, harmony and hierarchy, has been transformed through time and especially after the change in China’s economic model by Den Xiaoping’s reforms towards a more open economic system and along this a more business-oriented and globalised educational system. Perhaps the Chinese tradition in education, which mainly regards education as a route to social status and material success based on merit and constant examination can explain why the human capital theory is more applicable. On the other hand, additional notions in the Confucian tradition that education should be open to all, irrespective of the social class each person belongs to (apart perhaps from women and servants that were rather considered as human beings with limited social rights), its focus on ethics and its purpose to prepare efficient and loyal practitioners for the government introduces an apparent paradox with human capital theory but not necessarily with the instrumental view of education. This contradiction deserves to be appropriately and thoroughly examined in a separate analysis before it is contrasted to the Western tradition. For this reason the current research focuses only on the Western world leaving the comparison analysis with educational traditions found around the world, among them the Confucian tradition, as a task that will be conducted in the near future.

The use of capital in Bourdieu is criticised by a stream of social science scholars as rather promiscuous and unfortunate (Goldthorpe, 2007 ). They argue that a paradox here is apparent as in English linguistic etymological terms, the word capital implies, if not presupposes market activity. The same time Bourdieu criticises Becker’s human capital tradition as solely market-driven and a tacit way where the ruling class maintain their power through universities and other institutions. Waters ( 2012 ) argue that the use of the term “capital” in both Becker’s and Bourdieu’s writings is unfortunate, while both use the term to mean different things. Bourdieu’s understanding on the nature of “habitus” is a much more applicable term to explain the social role of education systems. Habitus is not capital, even if there is constant interaction between the two. Becker on the other hand, seem to neglect social and cultural capital as well as Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, which in turn is about the reproduction of society and power relations by universities and other institutions.

Some might have valid ontological objections on this, in terms of the purpose of philosophy as a whole; however the concept of Bildung has given education a role within society that moves away from individualism and the constant pursuit of material objects as ultimate means of well-being.

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Systems of higher education in France and Germany

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higher education , any of various types of education given in postsecondary institutions of learning and usually affording, at the end of a course of study, a named degree , diploma, or certificate of higher studies . Higher-educational institutions include not only universities and colleges but also various professional schools that provide preparation in such fields as law , theology , medicine , business, music , and art . Higher education also includes teacher-training schools, junior colleges, and institutes of technology. The basic entrance requirement for most higher-educational institutions is the completion of secondary education , and the usual entrance age is about 18 years. ( See also college ; university .)

(Read Arne Duncan’s Britannica essay on “Education: The Great Equalizer.”)

The system of higher education had its origin in Europe in the Middle Ages, when the first universities were established. In modern times the nature of higher education around the world has been largely determined by the models established in influential countries such as France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States .

Both France and Germany have systems of higher education that are basically administered by state agencies. Entrance requirements for students are also similar in both countries. In France an examination called the baccalauréat is given at the end of secondary education. Higher education in France is free and open to all students who have passed this examination. A passing mark admits students to a preparatory first year at a university, which terminates in another, more rigorous examination. Success in this examination allows students to attend universities for another three or four years until they have attained the first university degree, called a licence in France.

Basic differences, however, distinguish these two countries’ systems. French educational districts, called académies, are under the direction of a rector, an appointee of the national government who also is in charge of the university in each district. The uniformity in curriculum throughout the country leaves each university with little to distinguish itself. Hence, many students prefer to go to Paris, where there are better accommodations and more cultural amenities for students. Another difference is the existence in France of higher-educational institutions known as grandes écoles , which provide advanced professional and technical training. Most of these schools are not affiliated with the universities, although they too recruit their students by giving competitive examinations to candidates who possess a baccalauréat. The various grandes écoles provide a rigorous training in all branches of applied science and technology, and their diplomas have a somewhat higher standing than that of the ordinary licence .

In Germany, a country made up of what were once strong principalities, the regional universities have autonomy in determining their curriculum under the direction of rectors elected from within. Students in Germany change universities according to their interests and the strengths of each university. In fact, it is a custom for students to attend two, three, or even four different universities in the course of their undergraduate studies, and the majority of professors at a particular university may have taught in four or five others. This marked degree of mobility means that schemes of study and examination are marked by a freedom and individuality unknown in France.

Each of these countries has influenced higher education in other nations. The French, either through colonial influence or through the work of missionaries, introduced many aspects of their system in North and West Africa, the Caribbean, and the Far East. In the 1870s Japan’s growing university system was remodeled along French lines. France’s grandes écoles have been especially copied as models of technical schools. German influence has come about through philosophical concepts regarding the role of universities. The Germans were the first to stress the importance of universities as research facilities, and they also created a sense of them as emblems of a national mind. The doctoral degree, or Ph.D., invented in Germany, has gained popularity in systems around the world.

The autonomy of higher-educational institutions is strikingly pronounced in Great Britain. Its universities enjoy almost complete autonomy from national or local government in their administration and the determination of their curricula, despite the fact that the schools receive nearly all of their funding from the state. Entry requirements for British universities are rather complicated. A student must secure a General Certificate of Education (corresponding to the French baccalauréat ) by taking examinations in various subjects and receiving passing marks in them. The greater the number of “advanced level” passes, rather than General Certificate of Secondary Education (formerly “ordinary level”) passes, that a student acquires , the better his chances are of entering the university of his choice. (Britain has a centralized admissions bureau to which candidates for admission are able to give their choice of universities in an order of preference.) This selective admission to universities, combined with the close supervision of students through a tutorial system, makes it possible for most British undergraduates to complete a degree course in three years rather than the standard four years. Great Britain’s academic programs are more highly specialized than their European continental counterparts. Most undergraduates follow an “honours” course (leading to an honours degree) in one or, at the most, two subjects, while the remaining minority of students take “pass” courses that cover a variety of subjects. Great Britain’s model of higher education has been copied to varying degrees in Canada , Australia , India, South Africa , New Zealand , and other former British colonial territories in Africa, Southeast Asia , and the Pacific.

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Studying today's college landscape to inform tomorrow's higher education.

Higher Education in the 21st Century is a large-scale national study that is documenting how different groups think about the goals of college and the value of a course of study emphasizing liberal arts and sciences. In recent years, there have been numerous changes on college campuses and in the broader landscape of higher education. The study seeks to understand how the chief constituencies of campuses — incoming students, graduating students, faculty, senior administrators, parents, alumni/ae, trustees and job recruiters — think about these changes and how they may impact the college experience in our time. The preservation and transformation of liberal arts and sciences is most likely to be effective if such efforts build upon knowledge of the perspectives of all the stakeholders on a range of campuses. Ultimately, the study aims to provide valuable suggestions of how best to provide quality, non-professional higher education in the 21st century.

Aligned Programs for the 21st Century

In effort to strengthen educational outcomes in the liberal arts and sciences, Aligned Programs for the 21st Century (ALPS21) aims to identify exemplary programs in higher education—courses, programs, and co-curricular activities—that bridge different perspectives among major stakeholders on college campuses. ALPS21 is part of a larger empirical study, Liberal Arts and Sciences for the 21st Century (LAS21), which investigates how students, parents of students, faculty, administrators, trustees, young alums, and job recruiters conceive of the purposes, goals, best practices, and most challenging features of undergraduate education in the United States. ALPS21 will disseminate strategies, approaches, and examples of programs on college campuses that effectively bring constituencies into better alignment.

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What is Higher Education? Meaning, Purpose & Objectives of Higher Education

• by Ajah_Excel
• April 19, 2024
• 8 minute read

Higher education is a transforming stage in people’s educational journeys and is frequently considered the peak of academic pursuits. Higher education goes beyond primary and secondary education to include specialized and advanced study that fosters intelligence, critical thinking, and personal development.

They offer a doorway to knowledge, skill, and innovation through different subjects and fields, enabling students to become experts in their chosen fields.

It cultivates a culture of inquiry and intellectual curiosity, forming well-rounded people ready to make significant contributions to their communities and the wider world. As a crucial component of societal advancement.

This is mostly about the pursuit of greatness and self-discovery, empowering students to take on new challenges and improve their lives via the life-changing potential of learning.

Table of Contents

About higher education, what is higher education, objectives of higher education, academic progression and education:, individual growth:, getting ready for professions and careers:, social responsibility and civic engagement:, investigation and originality:, cultural and social enrichment, lifelong education:, faqs on higher education, recommendedations.

Academic degrees are awarded through postsecondary education, which is known as higher education. After completing secondary school , this optional final stage of formal learning is referred to as post-secondary, third-level, or tertiary.

It is equivalent to levels 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the International Standard Classification of Education framework as it was published in 2011. In order to distinguish tertiary at the nondegree level from higher education.

Higher education is the advanced level that follows primary and secondary school. It usually includes education from universities, colleges, professional schools, and other establishments that provide specialized academic and vocational programs.

In-depth study in certain subject areas is the main goal of higher education, which helps students become experts and gain advanced knowledge in the subjects they have selected. In higher education, students pursue graduate and undergraduate degrees, including master’s, doctoral, and bachelor’s degrees, based on their goals for their studies and careers.

The curriculum, which is more specialized and research-oriented than previous educational levels, encourages critical thinking, analytical abilities, and independent investigation.

Related: UK Education System Guide 2024 | Everything You Need to Know

There are several Purpose for Higher Education, such as:

• Specialization: It enables learners to concentrate on their areas of interest and proficiency, equipping them for careers in particular fields or professions.
• Research & Innovation: Universities are hubs for research and development, advancing knowledge and fostering the creation of novel concepts, technologies, and remedies.
• Personal Development: It imparts academic information and cultivates character development, social responsibility, and personal growth.
• Career Advancement: Those who complete higher education are better equipped to pursue leadership positions in their fields and higher-level positions.
• Lifelong Learning: Fostering an enthusiasm for learning far after graduation promotes ongoing education and individual development.

Higher education is a major factor in both societal advancement and economic growth. Well-developed higher education systems typically produce more creative and skilled workers, which boosts a country’s economy and competitiveness in the world market.

It is essential in forming people’s and society’s futures, enabling students to become accountable and valuable contributors to their communities.

The goals of postsecondary education are broad and complex, extending the search for knowledge beyond classroom instruction. This admirable project aims to provide students with the skills they need to succeed in their chosen fields and as obedient and kind members of society.

It aims to foster comprehensive personal development by fostering ethical principles, leadership abilities, and a global perspective, going beyond specialty and job preparation.

Through the instillation of a love of lifelong learning, it equips people to champion progress in a fast-changing world, adapt to emerging difficulties, and meaningfully contribute to their communities.

Higher education’s aims cover a broad spectrum of goals intended to fulfil different roles in people’s academic, personal, and societal growth. Among these goals are:

• Academic Excellence: Offering demanding and thorough academic programs that support excellence in learning is one of the main goals of higher education. Institutions work hard to uphold strict academic standards and guarantee that students have a thorough understanding of the subjects they have selected.
• Specialization: Students pursuing higher education have the opportunity to focus on particular academic subjects, gaining in-depth knowledge and proficiency in their areas of interest. Individuals with the specialization are ready for employment and careers in their respective areas.
• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Postsecondary education cultivates critical thinking abilities by motivating learners to assess and scrutinize data critically. It develops problem-solving skills that enable graduates to handle challenging situations in both their personal and professional lives.

Read Related: The Importance Of Role Models In Education: How To Be A Good Role Model For Students

• Research and Innovation: Universities serve as centres for both of these activities. Promoting research among academic staff and students helps advance knowledge, create new technologies, and find answers to pressing issues.
• Personal Development: Students’ overall personal development is the goal of higher education. It prepares people to be responsible and caring citizens by emphasizing character development, moral principles, leadership abilities, and a feeling of social duty.

Higher education aims to cover a broad area of goals.

• It promotes exposure to a variety of viewpoints, cultures, and ideas in order to foster global awareness and cultural understanding. Students’ worldviews become more inclusive and tolerant when global awareness and cultural understanding are encouraged.
• Long-Term Learning: One of the main goals is to cultivate a lifelong love of learning. In order to adjust to changing circumstances, pursue professional development, and remain relevant in a world that is changing quickly, graduates are encouraged to embrace lifelong learning.
• Employment and Career Planning: A college education gives students the knowledge and credentials they need to enter the workforce and seek prosperous professions. It boosts graduates’ employability by offering internships, real-world experience, and networking opportunities.

More about Higher Education

• Contribution to Society: Encouraging graduates to make constructive contributions to their communities and cultivating a sense of civic responsibility are important goals. Is to create responsible, engaged citizens who are dedicated to changing society.

By striving for these goals, these institutions want to equip people with the values, knowledge, and abilities necessary to live happy, productive lives that benefit society and further human knowledge.

In recognition of the changing political, social, and economic environment, the Radhakrishnan Commission3 offered a thorough set of goals and purposes for higher education. Below are these objectives:

• The Commission strongly emphasised that university students cultivate an intellectual mindset that values critical thinking and a passion for information.
• Higher education is viewed as a way to produce bold and visionary leaders who would support social change and intelligently and perceptively handle societal issues.
• Universities were urged to play a crucial role as intellectual hubs and cultural organs, directing the advancement of civilization and encouraging academic endeavours.
• The goal of higher education was to produce knowledgeable, involved individuals who would take an active part in the democratic process and thereby act as a catalyst for democracy’s success.
• The Commission promoted the idea of using appropriate training to identify and develop people’s natural abilities so they can reach their full potential.
• The goals of higher education are to inculcate values of justice, equality, freedom, and national discipline as well as global understanding.

Also Read: What is Tertiary Education in the UK?

The Purpose of Higher Education

Higher education serves many different purposes that are all related to the growth of the mind, the individual, and society as a whole. Institutions, cultures, and individuals may have different specific objectives and priorities, but the general objectives are as follows:

• Knowledge Acquisition: The main goal of higher education is to gain and expand knowledge across a range of subject areas. It enables students to explore interesting topics, hone their critical thinking abilities, and become experts in particular fields.

Read Also This: What is High School Called in England? The British Education System

• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Students who pursue higher education are encouraged to study data, assess arguments, and come up with original solutions to challenging issues.
• Personal Development: Attending college helps with self-development and self-discovery. By having a deeper understanding of their identities, values, and beliefs, students are better equipped for a more meaningful and purposeful existence.
• Professional Skills: Students who pursue higher education are prepared with the information and abilities necessary for a variety of occupations. This training includes internships, practical experiences, and exposure to industry-relevant methods.
• Work Advancement: Getting a college degree is frequently essential to advancing in your work. Higher education provides the qualifications required for admittance into many professions, which can also increase your work options and earning potential.
• Ethical Decision-Making: They assist students in forging a strong sense of ethics and integrity, equipping them to make moral decisions in both their personal and professional lives by exposing them to ethical ideas and discussions.
• Knowledge Advancement: Higher education institutions help advance knowledge through innovation and research. In a variety of domains, academics and students conduct cutting-edge research that pushes the limits of human understanding.
• Technology and Discovery: Universities and colleges are the engines behind scientific and technical breakthroughs. Research carried out in universities frequently results in discoveries that have a significant impact on society as a whole.
• Appreciation of the Arts and Culture: Higher education promotes an appreciation of literature, the arts, and cultural diversity. Being exposed to many viewpoints promotes creativity, cultural insight, and a broader understanding of the world.
• Academic conversation: Colleges and universities serve as focal points for academic conversation and intellectual dialogue. Students participate in discussions that extend their intellectual horizons, confront preconceptions, and interact with a variety of ideas.

See Also: Scottish Curriculum: An Overview of the Scottish Education System

• Adaptability and Lifelong Learning: This a commitment to lifelong learning, ingrained in higher education. It fosters an attitude of ongoing education and personal development and gives people the tools they need to adapt to a world that is changing at a rapid pace.

These people should also be socially conscious and intellectually curious. Higher education is a path of transformation that equips students for the opportunities and challenges of the future.

It’s a higher education establishment that consists of universities, polytechnics, and agricultural colleges with specialized programs in engineering, agriculture, medicine, education, the arts, and economics, among other subjects.

Teaching should encourage students to seek out information, critically analyze and synthesize it, and provide opportunities for applying the skills they have learned.

Within this framework, I characterize the objectives of higher education as follows: (1) acquiring information; (2) formulating criteria for evaluating the value of concepts, and choosing deserving cases; and (3) recognizing the essentially human foundation for knowledge advancement.

The best learning objectives outline a path for students to follow in order to acquire new skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Every choice you make regarding your lecture or small group work should be based on the outcomes you anticipate your students will be able to achieve.

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The Aims of Higher Education

Problems of morality and justice.

• Edited by: Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson
• X / Twitter

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• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Copyright year: 2015
• Audience: Professional and scholarly;
• Main content: 192
• Other: 2 line drawings
• Keywords: higher education ; learning ; teaching ; morality ; ethics ; morals ; judgement ; justice ; philosophy ; economics ; economy ; university ; college ; undergraduate ; politics ; political ; aims ; liberal arts ; justification ; humanities ; inequality ; race ; gender and sexuality ; objectives ; virtue ; epistemology ; future research ; equality ; equity ; history
• Published: May 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9780226259512

Objectives of Higher Education - a challenge to fulfil

University education is directed by distinct objectives. Students in science, for example, should acquire:

• knowledge and skills based on the forefront of science in the subject areas of their studies
• capability to identify, formulate and handle scientifically complex problems, as well as to critically evaluate information and to formulate possible solutions
• skills to communicate knowledge at theoretical as well as at applied scientific levels, and
• ability to co-operate and to develop management/professional skills.

Fulfilling these objectives in university education is a great challenge; it imposes specific demands, not only on scientific content but also on teachers and teaching methods. Teaching must stimulate students to learn, to seek information and to critically synthesize information and knowledge, and also offer possibilities for applying their acquired skills. This means that a variety of teaching methods needs to be applied.

Defining objectives for the whole educational programme and for each individual course is essential and the objectives given should be used actively by teachers, as well as by students. The objectives should not only focus on subject knowledge, but also on the skills to be acquired. Students must become aware of what they need to learn to succeed, and teachers should reflect upon what and how to teach to best stimulate the learning process, and how to evaluate it. It is essential to evaluate how well the objectives have been fulfilled.

The knowledge mass in science and technology is doubled every 10 years! All individuals with a degree from higher education will need to keep their knowledge up-to-date. This will, to a large extent, be through self-learning . University curricula, therefore, must be designed to provide students with tools for life-long learning, i.e. learn how to learn and to gather knowledge. Training in using information and communication technologies is essential. Moreover, higher education institutions need to offer opportunities for continuing education . Such education will often need to be given as distance education , where new technology-based tools will play an important role.

Tertiary Education

Tertiary Education is instrumental in fostering growth, reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. It benefits not just the individual, but the entire educational system.

Tertiary education refers to all formal post-secondary education, including public and private universities, colleges, technical training institutes, and vocational schools. Tertiary education is instrumental in fostering growth, reducing poverty, and boosting shared prosperity. A highly skilled workforce, with lifelong access to a solid post-secondary education, is a prerequisite for innovation and growth: well-educated people are more employable and productive, earn higher wages, and cope with economic shocks better.

Tertiary education benefits not just the individual, but society as a whole. Graduates of tertiary education are more environmentally conscious, have healthier habits, and have a higher level of civic participation. Also, increased tax revenues from higher earnings, healthier children, and reduced family size all build stronger nations. In short, tertiary education institutions prepare individuals not only by providing them with adequate and relevant job skills, but also by preparing them to be active members of their communities and societies. 

The economic returns for tertiary education graduates are the  highest in the entire educational system  – an estimated 17% increase in earnings as compared with 10% for primary and 7% for secondary education.   These high returns are even greater in Sub-Saharan Africa, at an estimated 21% increase in earning for tertiary education graduates.

As the youth population continues to swell and graduation rates through elementary and secondary education increase dramatically, especially in regions like South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa, there is an intensifying demand for expanded access to tertiary education of good quality. Diversification of institution types and delivery modalities will become increasingly more central to meeting this expanded demand. Tertiary technical and vocational education and training, as one example, can provide an effective and efficient complement to traditional university studies in providing students with skills and knowledge relevant to the labor market. 

Governments are increasingly recognizing that the entire educational system – from early childhood through tertiary education – must reflect and be responsive to rapidly evolving social and economic demands and needs within an expanding globalized knowledge economy, which increasingly demands a better-trained, more skilled, and adaptable workforce. 

There are around 222 million students enrolled in tertiary education globally, up from 100 million in 2000. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of students in tertiary education programs has increased since the early 2000’s, but quality concerns remain . In Sub-Saharan Africa, enrollments have doubled every twenty years since the late 1970s. This massive growth remains critical as a student with a tertiary education degree in the region will earn more than twice as much as a student with just a high school diploma over a lifetime, though, of course, a variety of factors such as social capital and networks, institution quality, and academic program selection are among the factors that lead to notable heterogeneity of outcomes at for individual students in every country. 

Across the expanding pool of graduates of tertiary education, matching the skills developed today to the needs of the labor market of both today and of the future remains a major challenge. At the same time, expanded enrollments increase the strain on publicly funded institutions of higher learning, and many countries with limited resources are struggling to finance the growing needs of a larger student body, without compromising the quality of their educational offerings. Tertiary education also remains out of reach for many of the world’s poorest and most marginalized. In Latin America and the Caribbean, on average, the poorest 50% of the population only represented 25% of tertiary education students in 2013.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 9% of the traditional aged cohort for tertiary education continues from secondary to tertiary education – the lowest regional enrollment rate in the world.

Countries all over the world have undertaken major restructuring of their tertiary education systems to enhance their reach and effectiveness. However, progress has been uneven. All countries engaging in strategic reforms of their tertiary sectors benefit from ensuring that their national strategies and policies prioritize equitable access, improved learning and skills development, efficient retention, and considerations of the employment and education outcomes sought by graduates and the labor market.  Both policies and academic degrees need to be strategically tailored to fit the needs of the local society and economy.  Only then can governments realize the gains in primary and secondary school attainment through tertiary education access and progression and turn these successes into increased and sustained economic and social development.

Last Updated: Apr 09, 2024

STRATEGIC POLICY ADVICE

As the world seeks to build back better into a new era of green and equitable economic growth, tertiary education systems are at the heart of the big transformations required throughout economies and societies. Tertiary education is vital for the development of human capital and innovation. Strategic and effective investments in tertiary education can serve every country – from the poorest to the richest – by developing its talent and leadership pool, generating, and applying knowledge to local and global challenges, and participating in the global knowledge economy. Effective tertiary education systems ensure that countries have well-trained doctors, nurses, teachers, managers, engineers, and technicians who are the main actors of effective education and health service delivery and public and private sector development. 

The imperative for investing in tertiary education derives from two major questions: What are the benefits of investing, and what are the consequences of not investing? The benefits include higher employment levels (that is, lower levels of unemployment), higher wages, greater social stability, increased civic engagement, and better health outcomes. Even more significant and, perhaps, revealing, is examining what happens when countries underinvest in their tertiary education systems. The consequences of underinvestment include brain drain and talent loss, limited access to applied research capacity for local problem solving, limitations to economic growth due to low levels of skills in the workforce, low-quality teaching and learning at every level of education, and, perhaps most glaringly, expanded wealth inequality within and among nations, with those investing proportionately more experiencing resultant growth rates far outpacing those with lower levels of investment and strategic development.

Key elements of strategic policy advice for tertiary education

Decades of insufficient and ineffective investment in postsecondary education and the advanced skills developed through higher learning opportunities have only exacerbated global equity gaps. The World Bank’s STEERing Tertiary Education: Toward Resilient Systems that Delivery for All  policy approach paper describes the approach of the World Bank to support the development of effective, equitable, efficient, and resilient tertiary education systems and institutions. 

The paper seeks to: (i) reinforce the imperative that every country – regardless of level of development – invest thoughtfully and strategically in diversified, well-articulated, and inclusive tertiary education systems; (ii) provide a framework for policymakers and other tertiary education stakeholders to examine critical traits responding to the needs for advanced skills and lifelong learning in support of growth and development and key interventions for tertiary education systems in the decades ahead; (iii) examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global tertiary education sector and share ideas that promote a resilient recovery from the crisis; and (iv) provide key information about the decades of commitment the World Bank has shown to utilizing tertiary education for sustainable development, including context, concepts, and scale of the World Bank’s operational and analytical work.

Within this steering framework and with a view to turning the challenges wrought by the COVID-19 crisis into opportunities for impactful reforms, this paper encourages tertiary education policymakers and stakeholders to STEER their tertiary systems and institutions toward greater relevance and impact, utilizing five framing principles:

I.  Strategically diversified systems  — supporting all postsecondary institutions, ensuring agile, articulated pathways and diversity of forms, functions, and missions

• Developing  future-oriented strategies  that center on a strong contribution of tertiary education not only to growth and competitiveness but also to social cohesion and human development more broadly for the tertiary education sector, subsectors, and institutions. This is an agenda for high- and middle-income countries but is particularly important for fragile and low-income countries that need to kick-start the technological innovation and adaption engine and provide the young generation a productive and peaceful future.
• Positioning tertiary education in a  lifelong learning  context with flexible pathways, second-chance options, and greater adaptability to the needs and opportunities afforded by employers, civil society, and governments. This means permeability across pathways and providers, modularization of learning offers, and student-centered credit systems to allow for flexible pathways as well as bridging and mentoring programs to boost tertiary remedial education to give everyone a good start and adequate support in tertiary education.

II.  Technology  — designed and applied in a purposeful and equitable manner

• Harnessing  the power of technology  to improve teaching and research capacity while simultaneously acknowledging and countering the impact of expanding digital divides. With tertiary education sectors massively expanding across the globe and low-income groups and countries trailing behind, technology might be the only way to effectively ensure equity and resilience.
• Building a digital ecosystem with the help of  National Research and Education Networks (NRENs)  and effective collaboration across government portfolios. Harnessing the power of technology means that tertiary education institutions not only profit from digitalization but also advance digitalization through the development of digital skills, and application of digitalization across its functions and related research and development.

III.  Equity  — a universal approach to the benefits and opportunities of postsecondary learning

• Acknowledging that  inequity is a form of injustice .
• Acting to ensure that  equity and inclusion in access and success  are a driving ethos for an effective and relevant tertiary education system.

IV.  Efficiency  — a goal-oriented, effective use of resources

• Improving  information systems  so that sectors, subsectors, and institutions can be managed and enhanced utilizing evidence and sound information.
• For  financing , this means, for example, that systems and institutions diversify their funding base and reduce dependency on a single income source (which will require revisiting questions of cost-recovery and are thinking of student grant and loan schemes in many countries) and use innovative funding mechanisms.
• For  quality  assurance, this means that remote options for accreditation and evolution are established and applied when the environment requires such agility in ensuring quality under all conditions.
• For  governance , this means ensuring the external governance — legislative and ministerial oversight — and institutional governance — boards and oversight bodies — are developed and operated in such a manner that promotes effective connections with external actors and the world of work and allows for rapid innovations to be tested and embraced in such a way that institutions can continue their operations within the scope of their charters and missions.

V.  Resilience  — the ability to persist, flourish, and deliver agreed goals despite adversity

• Acknowledging the need for  resilience planning , by taking stock of the successes and failures of the COVID-19 response at the systems and institutional levels and analyzing options that would have mitigated the failures.
• Utilizing  adaptive governance frameworks  to embed immediate, strategic resilience interventions to address significant short- and long-term challenges facing tertiary education systems and institutions as a result of the shocks brought on by the pandemic, including diminished resources for institutions, personal and academic challenges for institutions and students, demand for improved infrastructure to support continued distance and blended learning models, reduced mobility placing pressures to improve regional and local tertiary institutions, questions of sustainability of funding models, and much more.

These five priorities present critical building blocks with which leaders and institutions can reframe and strengthen their tertiary education systems for greater impact on learning, growth, innovation, and social development.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has a highly diversified portfolio of lending and technical assistance projects in tertiary education, which deal with a variety of specific areas, including quality assurance, performance-based funding schemes, alignment of academic offerings with market needs, public-private partnerships, and governance reform, among others. The tertiary education portfolio represents approximately 25% of the total WBG investment in education.

Tanzania : The  Higher Education for Economic Transformation project  aims to strengthen the learning environment, ensure greater alignment of priority degree programs to labor market needs, and improve the management of the higher education system . HEET will achieve its objective by (i) strengthening and building the capacity of 14 public higher education institutions in both Mainland and Zanzibar to become high quality centers of learning, focusing on areas with the greatest potential for growth over the coming decade; and (ii) enhancing the management of the higher education system through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and subsidiary agencies. Expected results include the addition of over 260 academic programs within priority areas at participating universities, and over 100,000 students benefiting from direct interventions to enhance learning. 

Colombia : Since 2017, the WBG has been supporting the  Program for Higher Education Access and Quality  (PACES, in Spanish) project, which works to enhance the quality of tertiary education , while also improving access for economically and regionally disadvantaged students. PACES provides loans for poor students, as well as grants for master’s and doctoral programs in the world’s leading universities, while giving priority to victims of the country’s armed conflict.

Vietnam : The WBG’s  Vietnam University Development Project , financed through a US$295-million credit, will improve teaching and research capacity at Vietnam National University-Hanoi, Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Danang. Through investments in modern infrastructure, cutting-edge equipment, and knowledge transfer, it will help accelerate the transformation of these three universities into regionally competitive institutions with advanced teaching and research capabilities.

Africa :  The Africa Centers of Excellence project (ACEs) is Africa's first large-scale regional and groundbreaking higher education initiative funded by the World Bank and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). It addresses higher-level skills development needs and research and innovation requirements for the continent’s priority sectors in five main areas: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); agriculture; health; environment; applied social sciences; and education. Since its start in 2014, the program has supported over 80 centers in more than 50 universities across 20 countries across the continent . Under the program, thousands of students –more than one-third of whom are female-- have enrolled in postgraduate programs that meet international standards in delivering quality training and regional specializations to fulfill labor market demands on the continent.

Romania : The  Romania Secondary Education Project  (ROSE) supports 80% of Romania’s public high schools and 85% of tertiary education faculties in addressing factors preventing Romanian students from successfully transitioning from upper secondary to tertiary education and completing the first year of university. ROSE targets support to address both academic and personal factors that lead students to drop out of tertiary education, supporting interventions such as: remediation and socialization activities and supports, tutoring, counseling, extracurricular activities, internships, summer bridge programs and on-campus learning centers.

India : The Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education Project  through a $255.5 million loan, sets out to help India improve the quality of its technical education and provide more career opportunities to students. Over the next five years, the project will support around 275 government-run technical institutions in selected states across the country, benefitting more than 350,000 students each year.

Tertiary education in India has been growing steadily from 29 million enrolled students in 2011-12 to 39 million enrolled students across 40,000 institutions in 2019-20. While India’s tertiary education sector is among the largest in the world, recent studies note increased gaps in both technical and non-technical skills such as reasoning, interpersonal communication, and conflict resolution.

The Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education Project will support improving student skills and employability by focusing on better research, entrepreneurship, and innovation; and improve governance in technical institutions. As part of the project, students will get access to upgraded curricula including emerging technologies in communication and climate resilience. They will also benefit from better internship and placement services, including opportunities to network with professional associations.

The World Bank Group works in coordination with several academic institutions and multinational organizations across the world. These include the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR); the British Council; the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO); the International Association of Universities (IAU); the Association of Arab Universities (AArU); the Center for International Higher Education (CIHE) at Boston College; the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA); and the Association of African Universities (AAU).

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Higher Education

Historically, higher education has often been inaccessible to groups such as women, ethnic and racial minorities, the disabled and the poor. The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights calls for accessible higher education, stating that it is necessary for the “full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity.” The spirit of the covenant underlies the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognize that access to higher education is vital to lifelong learning. SDG 4 includes access to higher education in its 3rd target: “By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.” This target emphasizes that higher education must be globally accessible to all and of high quality. Increased access to higher education enables people to maximize their potential and further universal sustainable development. As the providers of higher education, universities can directly contribute to the realization of SGD 4 and its targets.

Higher education enables individuals to expand their knowledge and skills, clearly express their thoughts both orally and in writing, grasp abstract concepts and theories, and increase their understanding of the world and their community. It has also been shown to improve an individual's quality of life; studies show that compared to high school graduates, college graduates have longer life spans, better access to health care, better dietary and health practices, greater economic stability and security, more stable employment and greater job satisfaction, less dependency on government assistance, greater understanding of government, increased community service and leadership, more self-confidence, and less criminal activity and incarceration. In addition, college graduates have higher rates of access to the internet, more time to devote to leisure and artistic activities, and higher voting rates.

Please review our  SDG Hubs page  and in particular the information related to our Hub for Goal 4: Quality Education.

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At Alumni Weekend, the panel discussion “Looking to the Future: The Role of Higher Education in Society,” moderated by Arne Duncan, LAB’82, brought together dean of the College Melina Hale, PhD’98; dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Nadya Mason; dean of the Humanities Division Deborah L. Nelson. (All photography by John Zich)

Three UChicago deans share their views about what lies ahead—and what matters most.

One of the biggest draws during Alumni Weekend in May was “Looking to the Future: The Role of Higher Education in Society.”

Before a packed crowd at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures’ Breasted Hall, three University of Chicago deans addressed the topic at hand: Melina Hale , PhD’98, dean of the College and William Rainey Harper Professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy; Nadya Mason , dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Robert J. Zimmer Professor of Molecular Engineering; and Deborah L. Nelson , dean of the Division of the Humanities and the Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of English.

Moderating was Arne Duncan , LAB’82, distinguished senior fellow and special advisor to the dean at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, former US secretary of education, and former chief executive of Chicago Public Schools. Their discussion has been edited and condensed.

Arne Duncan: As we know, there’s a backlash against higher education. Over the next five, 10, 15 years, how do this university and others continue to prove their value and demonstrate how important it is to continue to create these opportunities for young people?

Nadya Mason: It’s incredibly important for universities to think deeply about problems that maybe other people aren’t thinking about—this is what UChicago is known for—but also to lead in solving global problems that are challenges to humanity and society as a whole, problems like climate change, energy efficiency, global hunger. I don’t see how universities can educate future generations without addressing these existential issues. UChicago did a great job of this by starting an engineering school.

This is not the only way to move forward. But it is important to continuously ask ourselves, “How are we having impact? How do we want to have impact?” Then make a plan.

Deborah L. Nelson: I’ve thought a lot about this because I teach postwar US culture, after 1945. In 1940, 4 percent of Americans went to college. After World War II, there was a massive increase because of the GI Bill. Then the Cold War produced a massive investment in higher education. Higher education was affordable.

Since the 1980s we have stopped investing in higher education, even though the United States has the greatest system the world has ever known. People from around the world come here. I just saw a list of the top universities in the world. Among the top 12, two of them were Oxford and Cambridge—and the rest were in the United States. We will be tremendously impoverished if we give up on that jewel of our own country.

The elite universities have the highest price tags, the flashiest credentials, but that is only part of higher ed in the United States. Eighty percent of US citizens who go to college go to a public university. And to undermine the good work of this big system educating people is—it’s really heartbreaking to me. I think it requires all of you and your communities to be a bulwark against the nonsense about higher ed. What is it for? Why are we doing it? Why do you want your children to have a college education? There are things beyond your child getting a job. I’m not indifferent to that; no one is indifferent to that. But there is a sort of basic foundation of citizenry that requires some advanced knowledge. We live in a very complex world, and you are going to have a hard time navigating that world without some fluency across disciplines and basic scientific, mathematic, humanistic, and social scientific knowledge. You use it every day, whether you recognize it or not.

Melina Hale: Yes, and one of the things we need to keep doing is what we’re doing now with the College’s Core curriculum, leaning into teaching students to argue rigorously, think deeply, look at primary sources of information, and evaluate these sources for themselves. We are completely committed to doing what we’re doing now, and the importance of that.

There are a lot of ways that we can engage more students and engage more broadly with our community, and we absolutely need to do more of that. I think a lot about Chicago as our home and our community, and we send lots of students out into that community. A sustainability club, for instance, will go and actually be advisers to local businesses about how they can improve sustainability.

Duncan: What role should UChicago play on the South Side and in the city of Chicago?

Hale: Speaking from the College viewpoint, we’re educators and we want students to succeed at K through 12 and go to college, whether they come to UChicago or not. A lot of us do outreach in the schools around us, which are incredibly underresourced. During the pandemic, high school seniors were having a hard time applying for college. So our admissions office started hosting Zooms and sending people out to talk to students. They’ve impacted over 20,000 students in the local community through a program called UChicago Promise. They also help train high school counselors to advise students on their applications and strategy. We have made a difference for these kids and these schools, but there are so many more ways we could help.

Mason: Within the sciences and engineering, we have community college programs, and we do outreach to local students. But one of the most important things we do for the community is to serve as a bridge to entrepreneurial activity.

I was told that some years ago this would have been anathema to the UChicago community. But there’s growing recognition of the importance of start-ups. How do you build the local economy unless you create jobs in the local economy? How do you create jobs in the local economy unless people create businesses or unless you train people in ways that they can contribute or build things? So we’ve partnered with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to train students in starting companies.

We want students to do fundamental research. But when they make discoveries that can have impact, they need to bring that out into the world. You may not see the impact this year or in five years. But in 10, 20 years, you’ll see this vision transform. It will create businesses that will impact the local economy significantly.

Nelson: Starting next year, the Division of the Humanities will be called the Division of Arts and Humanities. The arts faculty are already in the Humanities Division, so it makes sense to shine a light on that.

We have Arts + Public Life, a beautiful strip of buildings that houses a theater, art-making facilities, and a music pavilion on Garfield Boulevard, just past Washington Park. One of the programs brings local people in to perfect their art and then helps them start an online business. The arts fellows are not just focused on self-expression but also on learning basic business practices.

Washington Park has been depopulated down to 10,000 people. There’s so much empty real estate there, but that will soon change. UChicago Medicine is setting up a training center and a lab right where we have this beautiful arts block, as well as partnering with the City Colleges. There’s going to be an influx of people, right where we have this beautiful performance area. That’s remarkable.

Duncan: It’s a difficult time to be a university administrator. There are protests going on as we talk today. What’s it been like to not just live through this but to lead?

Hale: I can speak to the College. I work with all of our undergraduates, and I’ve had a lot of conversations with students, with small groups, and with parents: answering their questions and being open and transparent and up front about our principles, explaining why we’re doing what we’re doing.

We want our students to be able to use their voices and stand up for what they believe in. Free expression is so important for protecting marginalized people, but there are protests, and then there are disruptive protests—a very different thing.

It’s been important to stand back and see this as a learning experience for our undergraduates. But it’s been so emotional. I heard from students that it separated friends. Over the winter, I think that leaning into dialogue improved—trying to understand where each other was coming from and to talk about it. But it’s been a tough year.

Nelson: The thing that’s been on my mind a lot is, free speech is not free. It’s very costly. That doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. But sometimes we have a bit of happy talk about free speech: “Oh, free speech, it’s free, yay, we all get to say what we think.”

That’s true, but it makes demands. In a free speech environment, you have to be in a headspace of curiosity. That is hard to do when you’re in a lot of pain, when everybody’s in a lot of pain. To take a deep breath and listen—that has been the challenge, and it has been really hard. There’s been a lot of discussion and dispute among the faculty as well. People feel very, very strongly and make impassioned, reasoned arguments. But I do feel like it’s hard to listen.

But those are the capacities of free speech that you have to cultivate. The University has the advantage of norms of deliberation, norms of reason and evidence that are part of the classroom, part of the scholarly community. They’re tested during difficult times, but they are a bulwark against chaos. Having those norms deeply held, believed in, and practiced has been the foundation that has gotten us through some very tense and difficult moments. The Kalven Report and its declaration of institutional neutrality has been incredibly important. The institution cannot have a position, because it makes it impossible for a multiplicity of thinking to flourish.

Mason: It’s definitely been a challenging time. Of course UChicago is known for freedom of expression, but this year it’s been put in the forefront. What does free speech mean? Why does it matter? You might think, “Engineers, why would they need free speech? They’re just working on making stuff.” But when we talk about science, that includes climate change and vaccines. And at the University of Chicago we want our students to go out and be leaders and be able to engage in conversations about things that matter to people. If someone says, “Vaccines are not important” or “I don’t believe in climate change,” I want our students to be able to answer with reason, with scientific proof, with evidence. That’s what will make them leaders in the way that we want them to be, and it starts here.

Hale: A few weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation with a junior faculty member, relatively new to the University. He said, in the context of the protests and the encampment and everyone being angry at each other, “The University will never be the same again.”

But actually, go back and look at the ’60s, at the early ’70s, when I was a graduate student in the ’90s, the 2000s. And we all grow and learn and continue as a University, because the Kalven Report and our principles keep us on track.

Audience member: What’s the future of the Core curriculum, the magnet that brought me here?

Hale: Well, we love the Core. And as you know, when the Core first started in the 1930s, it was an earthquake in higher education. It was new, it was different. It was not great books. It was discussion and digging in and having this consistent education across our students.

The Core is as important today as it was a decade ago, 20 years ago, and back to the ’30s. It is not a static thing. It continues to evolve and change with the times, and sometimes swerves, and sometimes moves back. It’s a dynamic conversation among our faculty. In the last year or so, we started what are called Core Conversations for the first time, where faculty are getting together quarterly to talk about hard things about the Core. So we’re even having the Core conversation ourselves, in order to keep the Core curriculum lively and strong. The Core will not go away. I think it will be even more important for our students as we move forward.

Nelson: I’ve taught in the Core for many years. With a very diverse student body from around the world and around the country, the Core produces common touch points of knowledge and reference that are really absent among students. They haven’t read the same things. They don’t know the same things. We have micropublics. So to give them a set of things they all know and can discuss is an absolutely valuable thing for College students today—I would say absolutely more so than 50 years ago, when there was a more consistent curriculum across high schools and when the student body was more homogenous and knew more of the same things.

Audience member: One of the panelists mentioned certain skills being essential for visibility in the modern world. Is the traditional higher education model the best way to achieve that?

Mason: We’re not trying to create people who can just get a specific job. We’re trying to produce leaders and innovators who will bring us into the future. And to innovate, you have to understand a lot of things. You have to understand the past, you have to understand your society, you have to understand the pull of psychology, you have to understand a little math and a lot of science. Everything is connected together, and it’s things like the Core, combining deep knowledge and breadth of knowledge, that allow people to lead effectively into the future. That’s what we want for our students.

Nelson: We don’t have a higher education system in this country. We have a higher education market. And there should absolutely be massive experimentation around forms of higher ed. For a large number of students, it’s not reasonable to leave the workforce. They don’t have the money to leave the workforce for four years of concentrated study. But it should be possible for them to get a degree in a reasonable amount of time. There can be many, many more forms of delivery that would allow more students a more successful path to a college degree.

I did my graduate teaching at Queens College in New York. And you know, my students were working 40 hours a week in a job. I can torture the students here with assigned reading, and I do, because that’s their job—to read what I’ve told them to read. But at Queens I had to moderate the amount of work because my students had full-time jobs, and many were parents. You have to have many, many, many ways of educating people in a pluralistic society. This is one way of educating people. It’s a very valuable way. But it by no means should determine all the ways people can get the benefit of a college education.

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What Is The Purpose Of Higher Education?

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Universities have been around for centuries, and have long been recognized with prestige and a sense of class.

They form the institution that is responsible for delivering higher education. And many young people see attending one as the logical step to take after graduating from high school.

Up until recently, the purpose of higher education was almost never questioned. It was always seen as the only pathway towards professional employment, as well as being the best quality education that money could buy.

However, in recent years, different attitudes towards universities and the quality of the education that they deliver have emerged. Several factors have influenced this, and it has led to the waters becoming a little cloudy.

Technological developments such as e-learning platforms, wider acceptance of more holistic learning experiences, and a job market that now values practical skills as well as theoretical knowledge are some of the main factors.

They have fragmented what was once a concrete agreement on the purpose of higher education, forcing us to reconsider why we still value it.

So in this article, we will explore all of these points. We will see how they have influenced university, and give you an overview of the purpose of higher education in today’s society.

Table of Contents

To Further Knowledge And Understanding

To create democratic citizens, intellectual work, personal growth, purpose depends on the person, purpose of higher education.

The purpose of higher education is multifaceted, and so cannot be answered in a single point. But, by looking at its core objectives, and the founding principles of which universities emerged, we can get an idea.

Higher Education Objectives

Traditionally, the purpose of higher education revolved around a passion of learning, and bettering oneself through knowledge.

And although not the only ones, the following objectives were the main ways in which this was achieved.

Arguably the most important aspect of the purpose of higher education is to further our understanding. Knowledge has always been seen as a powerful tool, and fundamental to human progress.

But this does not mean that the purpose of higher education is to simply gain more knowledge. Knowing facts and figures, and knowing information about a certain topic can be beneficial.

But is also the way in which you think about things, and how you process information that is more important.

And so by teaching students about topics, but also how to think about these topics, they become much more critical thinkers.

So this aspect of the purpose of higher education comes through developing a critical mindset, and the ability to ask questions.

This sounds very abstract, but is actually quite straight-forward.

Higher education prides itself, and always has, on being an institution which is unbiased and uninfluenced by specific schools of thought. And for generations it has remained a secular and open minded environment, which promotes students to think for themselves.

By doing this, a higher education reflects the wider ideas of a democratic society, which values opportunity and objectiveness.

And so this fundamental aspect of the purpose of higher education helps students to develop a democratic outlook on life.

The final main aspect of the purpose of higher education is to prepare students for employment within work considered to be intellectual. This includes fields such as law, medicine, and mathematics.

These fields require lots of theoretical knowledge. And an institution of learning allows students to be immersed in them. Several years of study within this environment has long been seen as the optimum way of preparing for such work, giving students the best chance of success.

Today’s Purpose

It would be hard to argue that the objectives that we talked about before are no longer at the center of the purpose of higher education. After all, they are abstract concepts that do not easily change.

However, in recent years there has clearly been a shift in what students believe to be the purpose of higher education. And so it can be argued that although these core values are still there, they are no longer perceived to be the purpose.

But what do today’s students actually think

What Do Students Say

In 2018 academics from the London School of Economics (LSE) asked university students what they believed the purpose of higher education to be.

Most of the students involved in the study said that higher education serves career progression. Many of them believed that without a degree, the chance of finding a well paid job significantly decreased.

And so instead of seeing the purpose of university as an investment of time, energy, and money for better opportunity, these students see it as security against having to accept low paid work.

In a sense, this rings true to the core purpose of preparation for intellectual work.

However, it completely disregards the element of intellectual betterment for personal growth rather than purely for employment purposes.

But with many more jobs now asking for a higher education, it is understandable that students see this as the sole purpose.

Another common response from the survey was personal growth. Students felt that the purpose of higher education was to develop interpersonal skills and exposure to other walks of life.

Students from universities all over the world were included in the study. And some students, from the UK in particular, felt that the purpose of higher education was to learn how to live independently.

Of course, learning to take care of yourself is an important learning process in life. But this seems far removed from the academic learning which higher education aims to provide.

They also felt that the knowledge that they were acquiring developed their personality, and that they were better off for having it.

So, it would seem then that at least some students who responded to the study still felt that one of the original aspects of the purpose of higher education is still relevant today.

Has The Purpose Changed

Along with what respondents of the LSE survey said, the following factors have also influenced the purpose of higher education.

These days there are many e-learning platforms which aim to give customers an alternative way of learning. But many university degrees are now also delivered online.

For many this makes the separation between costly university, and a free e-platform even more obscure. And puts the purpose of higher education into serious question.

Students are now wondering how the main purpose of higher education can be enlightenment and personal development, if the experience can be shifted online just like any free platform.

Today’s job market is much more competitive than yesterdays. There are many vocational fields which now require a degree, and this sets the bar higher across society.

Because of this, higher education has become synonymous with ‘a good job’, as opposed to enlightenment and learning for learning’s sake.

Despite there being a clear change in attitude towards higher education, university is definitely still a valued experience. This means that higher education still has a purpose, but it is now perceived differently.

Ultimately, the purpose is determined by the students’ reasons for being there. And in today’s society, this seems to be predominately for job security.

However, it is important to remember that the underlying core values of the purpose of higher education are still there, despite no longer being as strongly recognized. 

Related Resources

• What Is An Institution Of Higher Education?
• Why Is Higher Education Important?
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• How to Become a Special Education Teacher

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4 major objectives of higher education in india.

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Higher education deals with the tertiary level of education. Under­graduate colleges, Post-graduate college. Universities and centres, of advanced studies are coming under scope of higher education. As on 31.02.05, there were 342 Universities including 18 central Universities, 211 state Universities, 95 deemed Universities and 5 institutions established under state legislation and 13 Institutes of National Importance.

There were 17625 colleges, of which 5286 have been recognized by UGC. In 2004-05, an estimated 104.81 lakh students were enrolled in the institutions of Higher Education and the faculty strength was 4.71 lakh. Higher education has special value in the emerging knowledge society. It contributes directly as well as indirectly to the wealth of a nation. Therefore, the country’s future depends on a massive expansion of education particularly at higher education level.

Objective of Higher Education:

The University Education Commission -1048-49 have made a number of significant recommendations on various aspects of higher education.

The objectives of higher education are as follows:

(1) Wisdom and knowledge :

Since education is both a training of minds and training of souls, it should give both knowledge and wisdom. No amount of factual information would take ordinarily into educated men unless something is awakened in them. Therefore, there should be inculcation of wisdom and knowledge.

(2) Aims of the social order:

Our education system must find its guiding principle in the aims of the social order for which it prepares. Unless we preserve the value of democracy, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, we cannot Preserves our freedom.

(3) Love for higher values of life:

The greatness of a country does not depend on the extent of its territory, the length of its communication or the amount of its wealth, but on the love for higher values of life. We must develop thought for the poor and sufferings, regards and respect for women, faith in brotherhood regardless of race, colour, religion etc.

(4) Training for leadership:

One of the important aims of higher education is the training for leadership in the profession and public life. It is the function of universities to train men and women for wise leadership.

The Indian Education Commission (1964-66) has made the following recommendations:

(1) To seek and cultivate new knowledge, to engage vigorously and fearlessly in the spirit of truth and to interpret old knowledge and beliefs in the light of new needs and discoveries.

(2) To provide the right kind of leadership in all walks of life, to identify gifted youth and help them develop their potential to the full by cultivating physical fitness, right interests, attitudes and moral and intellectual values.

(3) To provide society with competent men and women train in agriculture, arts, medicine, science and technology and various other professions, who will also be cultivated citizen individuals imbued with a sense of social justice.

(4) To strive to promote equality and social justice and to reduce social and cultural differences through diffusion of knowledge.

(5) To foster in the teachers and students and through them in society generally the attitudes and values needed for developing the good life.

The National Policy on Education-1986 viewed higher education as follows:

“Higher education provides people with an opportunity to reflect on the critical, social, economic, cultural, moral and spiritual issues facing humanity. It contributes to national development through dissemination of specialized knowledge and skill. Being at the apex of the educational pyramid, it has also a key role in producing teachers for the education system.”

Related Articles:

• University Education Commission 1948-49 in India
• Speech on Education in India: Secondary and Higher Education

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