The Business of Higher Education »

At a time of great economic uncertainty, The Business of Higher Education looks at the pros and cons of colleges and universities taking a more business-like approach to fulfilling their missions.

Library Journal

An installment in the publisher's "Praeger Perspectives" series, this collection of writings by academic, business, and nonprofit professionals—edited by professors of ethics and educational leadership—seeks and succeeds at assisting in answering the question of whether higher education and public interest is helped or harmed by the application of business methods to academic functions at the higher education level. The essays consider such issues as costs and benefits, marketing, hiring practices, customer service, the implications of selected business models, college rankings, accountability, academic-industry partnerships, and for-profit higher education. Each volume contains its own table of contents and introduction, along with the introduction to the set as a whole. One drawback is the lack of a comprehensive series table of contents and index. A researcher would be required to examine the individual indexes of each volume to locate all the desired information. This very lack, however, makes the individual volumes useful for purchase by themselves if one is interested in only one of the three topics. BOTTOM LINE A valuable set for colleges considering taking a more businesslike approach to fulfilling their missions. Students of business or educational leadership would also benefit from the knowledge compiled here.—Sara Rofofsky Marcus, Queensborough Community Coll., Bayside, NY