Corporatization: The Credibility And Value Of The Education System

Corporatization is the process by which a government owned organization is structured to reflect that of a public corporation. Educational institutions are becoming increasingly corporatized, focusing more on profit gain than producing a quality education for students. This corporatization has a negative effect on the credibility and value of our education system. These effects can be seen through the transformation of students in to consumers, the change in the manner in which these institutions are run, and the loss of academic freedoms.

As higher education becomes more corporatized, the students of these institutions are no longer viewed as merely students, and instead are now viewed as consumers. This role change shifts the focus of educational institutions from the education that these students are seeking to the focus of what they can have these consumers

This is especially prominent in the United States of America, where many colleges and universities pride themselves on having a high selectivity rating. The goal of many of these schools is to be as close as possible to Harvard's low acceptance rate of 5.9% of applicants. This allows them to have an air of prestige and be desirable making students more likely to ignore the high tuition rates to be a part of that educational facility, even though another college that does not have the brand like name could have a similar or better program. These universities are also globalizing their schools by building campuses in different countries, further adding to the idea of a brand name education. For example, Yale University built a campus in Singapore, even though there are civil rights violations, showing that the presence of the school is more important as a brand rather than the quality or