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Valuing Higher Education, Theology and Arts
General benefits of Higher Education
- Private goods: individualized status benefits, role achievement by individual students (Marginson, 2007)
- Public good: knowledge, collective literacy and common culture (Marginson, 2007)
- Structure of social opportunity = providing equality of access to vocations (Marginson, 2007)
- Across developing and developed countries there is an increased rate of return with tertiary education, both for the individual and the country (World Bank, 2006)
[Note the following material is from an article (March 2006) on the Graduate Careers Australia website gathered from the Department for Education and Skills (UK) and their Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning]
- Graduate job quality
- Earn greater income
- Lower risk of unemployment
- Higher level positions
- Greater promotion prospects
- Receive more training
- Greater flexibility eg, working from home
- Health benefits
- Healthier lifestyles (more exercise, less smoking, less obese)
- Better health outcomes
- Less likely to suffer from depression
- Intergenerational effects
- Graduate families are more engaged with their child’s education, and their children are more successful at school
- Children are less likely to suffer from educational difficulties
- Citizenship
- Graduates more likely to engage with their communities and be members of voluntary organisations
- Graduates are more likely to demonstrate a critical awareness of political issues
- Positive attitudes
- More likely to have positive attitudes toward diversity and equal opportunities
- Spillover to the wider economy
- Employers benefits from a more skilled and healthy workforce
- Highly-skilled workers more quickly adapt to new tasks and technologies, and are a direct source of innovation
- Education investment results in higher economic growth rates for the economy as a whole; and tertiary education becomes increasingly significant as economies mature and globalise
[Note the following material is from a publication entitled Reaping the Benefits: Defining the Public and Private Value of Going to College, published by The Institute for Higher Education Policy (US) in March 1998]
- Increased tax revenues (Mortenson, 1996)
- Greater productivity (Decker et al, 1997)
- Increased consumption = greater consumer spending (BLS, 1995)
- Increased workforce flexibility = generalised skills eg, critical thinking, writing, interpersonal communication (Pascarelli and Terenzini, 1991)
- Decreased reliance on government financial support = government assistance programs (Mortenson, 1995)
- Private economic benefits
- Higher salaries and benefits (Smeeding, 1983)
- Employment = higher rates and greater consistency (BLS, 1998)
- Higher savings levels (Eller and Fraser, 1995)
- Improved working conditions = white collar versus blue collar jobs (Duncan, 1976)
- Personal/professional mobility = flexibility and access due to skills being more able to be applied in different settings (DaVanzo, 1983)
- Reduced crime rates = incarceration rates decrease in line with level of education (Mauer, 1994)
- Increased charitable giving/community service = greater propensity for volunteer work and charitable giving (O’Brien, 1997)
- Increased quality of civic life = in US this measured by voting in elections (NCES, 1996)
- Social cohesion/appreciation of diversity = participate in social groups, value social connections (Putnam, 1996)
- Improved ability to adapt to, and use technology (Wozniak, 1987)
- Improved health/life expectancy = exercise and play sport more regularly, smoke less, live longer (NCES, 1994)
- Improved quality of life for offspring = also attain to higher education (Dawson, 1991)
- Increased personal status = prestige of jobs, leadership (Terenzini, 1996)
- More hobbies, leisure activities = go camping, read literature, visit museums (NEA, 1993)
[Note the following material is from a speech (November 2006) by Simon Marginson of the University of Melbourne on Globalisation and Higher Education.]
- Economic functions of higher education and research
- Production of the capacity (skills and research knowledge) enabling economic activity, including its social, cultural and political conditions
- Direct creation of economic revenues through educational businesses
- Impact of globalisation
- Despite globalisation, higher education institutions are closely affected by policy, regulation and funding
- The most globally effective HE institutions have strong financial support from their governments while shaping their own cross-border strategies
- Factors to enhance global effectiveness of higher education and nations
- National government supports higher education
- Institutional autonomy and academic freedom
- Basic research capacity and outputs
- Academic performance culture and global openness
- Communication power (ICT and languages)
- Strong two-way flows of academic staff and students
- Strategic capacity = executive steering, environmental reading, professional managers, imagination, innovation
- Spirit of global engagement, grounded in self-identity plus active curiosity in other cultures
- Flexibility to grab opportunities and move quickly
Theological education specifics
- Theological courses tend to attract older students (need stats), bringing life experience, needed diversity, more commitment to ministry (Dart, 1003)
- Theology trains the mind as well as the heart and the spirit and is ready to research and comment on the impact of globalising forces (Hadsell, 2004)
- Exploration of pluralism
- Recognition and response to social effects of large-scale economic forces
- Addressing the moral dilemmas in the interplay of local and global forces
- Theological education already tends to be global and inclusive and committed to a learning pedagogy that includes mutual exposure, dialogues, inquiry, reflection, sharing of daily life and a common language
Liberal Arts specifics (Guardian, 2006)
- Greatest strength = adaptability
- Quickly assume leadership because they are able to adapt to changes in technology as well as the work environment
- Usually leads to further study
- Increasing focus on interdisciplinary studies
- Focus is on skills for lifelong learning, and ability to problem-solve
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