You can notice some resemblances of colleges or universities and business. First of all, a business has products. Higher learning institutions (HEIs) have products too. The graduates, then students, are the products of HEIs who are also the customers — customers-turned-products. But basically, the real customers are the parents who spend to send their children to schools. Aside from their children, they are also the target of marketing strategies of schools — pricing and promotion particularly. Teaching is the production process. The workers are the teachers who transform students into individuals the best that they can be. The classroom is the manufacturing area. Its structure is the plant layout.
Businesses, in general, refer to for profit or profit-oriented. Is there any parallelisms? Well, the origin of university is Studium Generale or school of universal learning. A place where minds against minds meet. Profit was not the purpose of a university. Nevertheless, charitable institutions have profits or margins. They need it to survive. However, there must be a balance between margin and purpose. Today, universities and colleges are much like businesses. They compete. They are shaped by market forces. Profit is vital to perform important functions. Some academic institutions, however, lose sight of their real reason for being. They have an imbalanced view between margin and mission. Margin becomes the focus. That’s why education in many lands became commercialized. Students are treated raw materials to be transformed into products and teachers are workers who teach only out of money. We need to re-assess our purpose of existence. Academic institutions must return to the reason why do they exist, for this will make them more responsible to the society.
that is true (n_n)