The public good, productivity and purpose: New economic models for higher education

Abstract

This paper is one of five in the TIAA Institute Higher Education Series: Understanding Academic Productivity, an initiative undertaken in support of NACUBO’s Economic Models Project. That project was launched by NACUBO with the aim to provide colleges and universities with knowledge, ideas and tools to advance the difficult structural, cultural and political changes required for moving to more sustainable economic models. Given NACUBO’s goal of offering thoughtful, objective and credible scholarship on the issues at hand, the TIAA Institute was a natural partner for the project. This paper, written by Genevieve Shaker, author of a recent book on faculty and the public good, and William Plater, an emeritus provost and faculty member, explores the question of how to account for enhancement of the “public good” in the academic productivity equation. The authors address that question here from the perspective of institutional responsibility to deliver civic value; their companion paper, also a part of this series, looks at the issue from the perspective of individual faculty members. Their thoughtful work will help to enrich and elevate the complicated discussions surrounding academic productivity that senior campus leaders face.