The Funding of Higher Education: Different Objectives in Switzerland, the UK, and the USA (Course)

Anja-Silvia Goeing (Harvard/Zurich)

A course and workshop within the framework of ‘Universities: Past--Present—Future’, at the Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar, chaired by Julie Reuben (Harvard), Manja Klemenčič (Harvard), and Louis Menand (Harvard)

What is or should be the relationship between a democratic polity and its educational institutions and places of higher learning? Contemporary discussions of curricula place great stress on utility, on the value of learning skills as they apply not just to the employability of students, but to the economic and political well-being of a state or nation. Older, more humanist notions of education as a process of self-fulfillment, of making a better moral person, have been challenged by such technocratic ideals and are often seen as outmoded. At the same time the question of what values inform democratic education raises the issue of who decides on what should be studied and how. How much autonomy should educators have, and to what extent should funders – whether the state and politicians, grant giving agencies, private gift-givers and donors or voters and ‘the public’, however defined – affect or influence university policy, academic curricula or research objectives. There is a tension at the heart of this issue, one between the public good of material well-being and the democratic value of free critical thinking, one that raises the question of how independent and autonomous educational institutions should or can be in a democratic society.

The course brings together experts in higher education researching US-American, British, and Swiss ways and goals of broadening the range of institutions of higher education in recent years. They will discuss different forms of government involvement, sponsorship, and the value of developing non-traditional and applied course and degree offerings in higher education.

Activity Plan

Day	Date	theme
1	Sunday, Sept 8, 2019	getting there
2	Monday, Sept 9, 2019	Topic of the Day: Introduction to the Economic and Social Specifics of American Elite Colleges, Harvard Example
		Program:
		• 10-13 hrs tour of Harvard Yard and discussion of building sponsorship since the 17th century: what are the current debates?
		• 2-5 pm Unethical Sponsors: Harvard's slave owners, tobacco barons, and drug lords
3	Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019	Theme: gifts and counter gifts
		Program:
		• 10-13pm Gifts and Counter Gifts: What Did Harvard Tell the Sponsors? Alumni Networks: Results of an Archive Research.
		• 2 pm to 5 pm Sponsorship and the history of the university admissions policy (group work based on selected documents)
4	Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019	Topic: History and Politics of University Curricula: Liberal Arts; Education; non-traditional sectors such as the Harvard Business School
		Program:
		• 10-13 pm Harvard Art Museums: Selected Collectibles and History of University Curricula (Conversation with Curators and Experts)
		• 2-5 pm Harvard Yenching Library; Houghton Library; Gutman Education Library; Baker Library of Harvard Business School: Selected Collectibles and the History of University Curricula (Conversation with Curators and Experts)
5	Thursday, Sept 12, 2019	Topic: "Higher Education, Markets and Democracy: Switzerland, (the UK) and the US" (Comparative Studies)
		Program:
		• 10-13 am Governance, market orientation and globalization: comparative studies
		• 5 pm-7pm Public Roundtable Discussion at the Harvard Mahindra Humanities Seminar Universities: Past, Present, Future: "The Funding of Higher Education: Different Objectives in Switzerland, the UK, and the USA" (Speaker: Prof. John Brewer, Caltech; Prof. Cristiano Casalini, BC, Boston, Prof. Goeing, Prof. Gonon, Prof. Myles Jackson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ, Prof. Lynda Pickbourn, Hampshire College, Dr. Travis Ross, Yale, Chairs: Prof. Reuben , Harvard, Dr. Klemencic, Harvard)
6	Friday, Sept 13, 2019	Full-Day Excursion: Visit and Study of Selected Historic Women Colleges in the Boston Region (Wellesley, Radcliffe): Discussions with Decision-Makers and Researchers
7	Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019	10-13: final discussion, preparation of a document with further questions
8	Sunday, Sept 15, 2019	rest day
9	Monday, Sept 16, 2019	16 September to 21 September: individual research by doctoral students in the Harvard archives. (Joint lunches / dinners are planned)
10	Tuesday, Sept 17, 2019	16 September to 21 September: individual research by doctoral students (joint lunches / dinners are planned)
11	Wednesday, Sept 18, 2019	16 September to 21 September: individual research by doctoral students (joint lunches / dinners are planned)
12	Thursday, Sept 19, 2019	16 September to 21 September: individual research by doctoral students (joint lunches / dinners are planned)
13	Friday, Sept 20, 2019	16 September to 21 September: individual research by doctoral students (joint lunches / dinners are planned)
14	Saturday, Sept 21, 2019	16 September to 21 September: individual research by doctoral students (joint lunches / dinners are planned)
15	Sunday, Sept 22, 2019	departure