A University in Your Pocket

Universities across the planet are more and more becoming extensions of business interests. This is due to local university policies, political decisions (e.g. funding at the level of the EU) as well as greed by intelligent members of society who compensate for their decline in social status (which is roughly equal to their financial status).


A University of Houston example in the NYT

"What Mr. Pirrong has routinely left out of most of his public pronouncements in favor of speculation is that he has reaped financial benefits from speculators and some of the largest players in the commodities business, The New York Times has found.


While his university’s financial ties to speculators have been the subject of scrutiny by the news media and others, it was not until last month, after repeated requests by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act, that the University of Houston, a public institution, insisted that Mr. Pirrong submit disclosure forms that shed some light on those financial ties."

Another case of Plagiarism

Plagiarism

Doris Lessing on the Nobel Prize

Doris Lessing on the Nobel Prize.

Anachronistic locality

The practice of hiring only local candidates for university positions is still widespread. Often the bias is justified by the argument that the candidate has to speak the local language. That argument has traditionally been considered most powerful within the humanities. It goes without saying that this practice is self-destructive, and that this will be proven in the near future. The argument is based on a nineteenth century romantic and nationalistic mentality that has become anachronistic in a world dominated by a global economy. It limits the field of candidates to such a degree that it opens the door to large statistical fluctuations in the quality of qualifying candidates, as well as to local politics. In fact, I would argue reversely, that academic positions for which no approximately qualified outsiders apply should simply not be filled in.

These anachronisms are still surprisingly widespread (and for sure not limited to the humanities). Academia itself, the universities concerned and in particular the departments concerned should be extremely proactive in avoiding these types of practices, based on local politics and nepotism, for they will be detremental within a fairly short term, given the present pressure on universities to be accountable. To withstand the perverse effects of the drive towards accountability, we should make sure that we have a clean house.