Market-orientation leading to ‘decline of the university as a cultural institution’

Judging by the mood of an education symposium in Wellington, the university sector is falling worryingly short of a pass mark.Speakers and attendees at The Future of Our Universities event, sponsored by think tank The New Zealand Initiative, were primarily senior academics. The tone was one of serious unease and even anger – with some criticism focused on the market-focused drives of the sector diminishing their roles as cultural institutions.NZ Initiative chief executive Oliver Hartwich explained why a business-funded organisation s...