The Tendency of Universities to Invest in Facilities Above Teaching Standards

A tendency that is growing in prevalence among universities from around the world is the general trend of investing in facilities above improvements to educational standards. It is important that we understand this issue for a number of reasons, but primarily because it is closely related to the increasing cost of university education.

Getting a degree from anywhere in the western world can cost you a significant amount of money, and this has resulted in significant indebtedness for a large number of newly minted graduates. If we can lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of university officials spending their budget on pointless vanity projects rather than on improving the standard of education being provided students so that they are adequately prepared for adult life, then that can only be a good thing.

Of course, a significant proportion of facility investment is desirable and sometimes necessary. Improving science facilities is obviously a must, as the material they are studying needs to remain relevant to the modern world. Unfortunately, a proportion of the investment is done on things that are difficult to justify from the perspective of improving the quality of research or educational standards.