Mass varsity education – is it worth it?

THE US business model for higher education is spreading. It gave the world the modern research university – a blend of the 17th century Oxbridge college system with the German research university developed in the early 19th century.

The result: the likes of Harvard, Yale, Caltech, Columbia, taking eight of the world’s 10 best universities (15 of the top 20) and more than 50% of the first 100. Today, they are the prime movers of the world’s intellectual and scientific life. That’s not all. They led the world in creating mass higher education – driven in part by the US economy’s need for innovative skills and managerial talent, and in part, by the desire to give war veterans a chance to better themselves.