Academic Capitalism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Academic Capitalism - Research Paper Example It might range from production of knowledge that has been prepared by the teachers to the teachers’ curriculum as well as instruction (Rhoades & Sluaghter, n.d.). Hereby, the main objective of the paper is to understand the meaning of the term ‘academic capitalism’, theories related to academic capitalism, history of academic capitalism and its impact upon the teachers, students as well as the general US people. What is Academic Capitalism? Academic capitalism can be comprehended as the contribution of both college as well as faculties in ‘market-like behaviours’ which has gradually become one of the main characteristics of higher education in the United States. In the current day context, it has often been observed that colleges as well as universities, especially in the public sector, have not been capable of gaining adequate support from the side of the government. It is because of this reason that public colleges and universities are trying to prepare their targeted market and sell numerous products in the private sector as one of the main source of income with the motive of increasing the profit margin. In the present times, the higher-educational institutions such as colleges and universities are observed to be intended towards earning revenues by means of their core educational, research as well as service functions. ... The term intends to demonstrate the phenomenon of universities’ as well as the teachers’ high attention to market potential as a research momentum (Mazzolini, 1997). In this regards, academic capitalism has often been defined by the academicians as a philosophy that follows profit-generating attempts. While focusing upon marketplace and associating with the government, business, and industry, the profit earning initiative of the academic institutions can comprise of technical services along with personnel exchanges (Gumport, 2000). Academic capitalism is also defined as a systematic procedure which focuses on yielding the benefits of high quality training, the growth of e-learning offerings, rental facilities along with space, and the shifting of the resources from inactive tasks to ones which is more productive as well as efficient. It is in this context that by means of academic capitalism, the decision makers of academic institutions are endorsed to become more consc ious towards the market. Another virtue of academic capitalism is that it motivates the academicians to be more careful while allocating the resources ranging from traditional instructional tasks to the task of revenue generation (Tarance, 2002). The concept of capitalist academy seems to be quite contentious in nature since it is viewed as demanding conventional academic leadership forwarding the institutional resources towards the task of revenue generation and thereby shifting the institutional focus and leveraging the characteristic of academic work (Hanley, 2005). In the context of academic capitalism, students are the customers and colleges have become merchants. Along with it, the research conducted by them is being commercialised in various fields leading to new age in