Chapter 2: Today’s Institutions of Higher Learning: Clashing Values in Motion

Higher education is more complex than most in the academy understand. Institutions seek legitimacy, prestige, and stability in ways that pit conventional academic values against external pressures. We explore the tensions in value that emanate from this value/pressure dynamic by focusing on their manifestation in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors of higher education. We focus specifically on large public research institutions and high-end for-profit institutions. Our analysis is guided by institutional theory and theories of organizational culture and choice that point to competing values between these 2 institutional sectors. We conclude our analysis with a consideration of what the future might hold for higher education with respect to changes in institutional structures and values, the values that enhance or inhibit change in and between the 2 sectors, and the implications for policy that emerge from the rich complexity of forces in which institutions in both sectors operate.