Page 91 - EW November 2024

ation and inadequate contact hours or class sizes. If you
do this while other countries take the opposite route, your
relative position is bound to deteriorate,” he says.
The reputation of the US sector is also falling. In the past
year alone, there has been a 4 percent drop in the country’s
share of votes for teaching and a 3 percent drop for research.
Meanwhile, universities based outside the US and UK have
51 percent of the vote share for teaching and 49 percent for
research, up from 37 and 35 percent respectively a decade
ago. The key countries gaining in esteem are China, France
and Germany.
Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at Ox-
ford, says the trends mainly reflected “other systems coming
up than the US and UK declining”. “One of the longer-term
factors is the comparative rise in resources and capability of
national systems in Western Europe and East and Southeast American varsity students: "target on their backs"
Asia. On the whole, Europeanisation — including Bologna-
style cooperation and the framework research programmes, the Republicans also retain control of the House of Repre-
such as the current Horizon — have strengthened universi- sentatives. “We’ll see a ratcheting-up of public show trials of
ties in continental Europe,” he says. Meanwhile, China’s presidents and trustees even more egregious than the hear-
rise in reputation is “very much driven by increasing levels ing that brought down president (Claudine) Gay of Harvard
of government investment.” after October 7 (2023),” she predicts. “The long knives will
Prof. Marginson says that the “intrinsic academic be ready — and, sadly, wielded by many graduates of the
strength” of anglophone countries’ universities “remains very institutions the right-wingers seek to debilitate.”
strong”. But he warns that “if UK higher education goes Democratic control of the presidency or Congress could
another decade without fixing the now bankrupted 2012 ease the pressure on university leaders, for example avoid-
funding system in which it is politically impossible to in- ing major increases in taxes on endowments, says Chris
crease the unit of resource, then it will pay the price in terms Marsicano, assistant professor of educational studies at
of reputation as well as resources”. Davidson College. “This election is quite possibly the most
important presidential election for higher education institu-
UNITED STATES tions in a quarter-century. There is a sense among lobbyists
Students' vote decisive? for higher education institutions that right now the GOP has
a target on universities’ backs and is willing to ‘punish’ them
THERE ARE HIGH STAKES FOR UNIVERSITIES for perceived left-leaning behaviour. Only if voters return
in the upcoming US presidential election, even if a divided Congress will colleges and universities begin to
neither candidate has set out an extensive higher breathe easy,” he says.
education policy agenda — and students’ votes could play a Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies for
key role in the result. the American Enterprise Institute, says leaders are justifi-
In the run-up to the November 5 poll, Kamala Harris has ably nervous because they have been “blithely alienating
mostly embraced the Biden administration’s plans for sup- the right” for years, while the Democrats have leaned into
porting historically black colleges and universities, student concerns about cost and completion.
debt relief, the restoration of diversity and inclusion poli- “If Trump wins and Republicans control one or both
cies, and making immigration easier for talented academics. chambers, colleges could be in for some tough sledding. If
However, in recent weeks she has signalled a clean break Democrats have a good day, it’s not clear that it will trans-
from the “college for all” blueprint of her Democratic pre- late to much in the way of resources or support — and the
decessors, by pledging to “get rid of the unnecessary degree Biden-Harris loan forgiveness push has not been a good
requirements for federal jobs”. advertisement for the sector’s value,” says Dr. Hess.
It was unclear how supportive Donald Trump is of the To have a good day, Democrats will have to repeat their
controversial Project 2025 policy playbook crafted by his success of 2020, when they helped produce a record jump
allies at a conservative thinktank. It advocates shuttering of in the number of students voting. The Harris campaign has
the Department of Education, but Patricia McGuire, presi- been heavily targeting students with digital advertisements
dent of Trinity Washington University, says it “spells out a in the key Pennsylvania race, while they could also prove
clear desire to debilitate if not demolish many universities”. pivotal in other swing states including North Carolina,
Prof. McGuire says a second Trump administration Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.
would be “horrific for higher education” — particularly if “It is entirely possible that student turnout will be the

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