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The strategy of selective excellence: Redesigning higher education for global competition in a postindustrial society

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Abstract

Resource allocations in American higher education are now governed, on the one hand, by the constraints of a structural fiscal crisis and, on the other, by pressures from business and political leaders that universities help meet the challenges of a new economic order. The result is a seemingly contradictory imperative that higher education do more with less. While achieving this objective may seem impossible for the individual institution or faculty member, the dilemma is being resolved at a systemic level through a combination of institutional responses to market forces and by strategic planning at the state, regional, and federal levels.

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  1. Center for Policy Analysis, University of Massachusetts, 285 Old Westport Road, 02747-2300, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA

    Clyde W. Barrow

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Barrow, C.W. The strategy of selective excellence: Redesigning higher education for global competition in a postindustrial society. High Educ 31, 447–469 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137126

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