Corporatizing university education : a philosophical analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine the educational consequences of the corporatization of the university. Consideration will be given to the following questions: What is the impact of the corporatized university on the nature and quality of the education that students receive in such institutions? Do universities under the influence of the corporatized model actually educate or do they merely train? I will argue that the corporatized model devalues the nature of university education. First, I will provide a general characterization of what is traditionally described as the ‘liberal model’ for university education and contrast that with what I will call the ‘corporatized model for university education’. Second, I will analyze the concepts of ‘education’ and ‘being educated’ and I will make a distinction between ‘being educated’ and ‘being trained’. The outcome of this analysis is that corporatized universities aim to produce trained graduates, while the liberal university model aims to produce educated graduates. Third, I will analyze the concept of ‘understanding’ and I will justify its extrinsic value for students. Last, I will argue that the corporatized university’s failure to educate its students is moral failing of significance.