Higher education has been influenced by a wide range of historical origins
Question 1. From this week’s reading Part 1- Historical Origins and Antecedents, what section (i.e., The Tablet-House of Ancient Mesopotamia, Student Nations: Bologna, The Inns of Court, etc.) do you see as having the most influence on higher education as a whole, and why?
Response : Higher education has been influenced by a wide range of historical origins. Higher education has been impacted by The Tablet-House of Mesopotamia, Student Nations: Bologna, and The Inns of Court. There is proof that scribal educational institutions existed in the Tablet-House of Mesopotamia along the al-Jarirah axis (Lucas, 2016, p. 5). The scribes were taught in this institution how to write in the cuneiform script. Edduba was introduced by the tablet-house. In essence, there were teachers at the edubba who gave lessons in a variety of subjects, including geometry, grammar, history, accounting, and many others. Students needed many years to finish, and they could continue until they were adults. Since Mesopotamia was the birthplace of higher education, I think it had some influence on it. I don’t think it was the one that had the biggest influence on higher education.
I think Bologna: Student Nations had the biggest effect on higher education. Students in Bologna began to group together based on their home regions, which at the time meant having a common language or dialect (History of the Student Nations, 2021). It was first used during the thirteenth century. It was made up of scholars in training. A renowned scholar by the name of Irnerius (Warnerius) founded a school for the instruction of the liberal arts and Roman civil law within the municipal precincts in the 1100s (Lucas, 2016, p. 45). Years later, this resulted in the center for legal studies. The proctors and consiliarii, or counselors as we know them today, made up the nations. Like our modern higher education institutions, the student nations were structured with a chain of administrators. They even had an obedience system in addition to a hiring procedure and fixed salaries. The obedience system is comparable to the ethics and honor codes that are now required of professors and students in universities. By the 1500s, universities of all kinds were widely dispersed throughout Europe. I think the Student Nations had the most impact on higher education because it was run with different administrators, like many colleges are now, and it pioneered modern universities by providing housing known as hospice.
Even though I don’t think the Inns of Court had a significant impact on colleges today, I think they had some. For the wealthy to pursue legal education, the Inns of Court was established. It started out as a law school before later adding humanities classes. Here, there were also arts classes that taught individuals dance and signing. Plans go awry without counsel, but they are established in the abundance of counselors (Proverbs 15:22, KJV). From their beginnings in the Tablet-House of Mesopotamia, Student Nations: Bologna, and The Inns of Court, our higher education institutions have undergone transformations to what they are today. These periods all paved the way for today’s colleges and universities. From their humble beginnings, our universities and colleges have come a long way. With this background knowledge, I am eager to see how higher education will develop in the ensuing years.
References
History of the student nations. Osakunnat Nationerna. (2021). https://eng.nation.fi/history/.
Lucas, C. J. (2016). American higher education, second edition : A history. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu
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Question 2 : Discuss the 3 central questions that economists ask to better understand decision makers’ behaviors (described in Chapter 2 in Toutkoushian and Paulsen). How do these central questions apply to the marketplace of higher education? Include at least 2 in-text citations to support your points. In this course, the assignments build up to a case study in which you will provide detailed institutional information, key performance indicators, and budgeting data. Identify an institution that you would like to study. Which institution did you select, and what general information can you share (founding year, public/private control, highest degree offered, and total enrollment)?
Response to revise : Today’s experienced decision makers have, overtime, developed multiple ways to arrive at conjectures that typically are the appropriate solutions to their problems. As a scientist, hard data generated from the inception of research is essential for valid statistics and analysis that prove theories one way or the other. Economists, however, often rely on existing data to test theories rather than generate new data sets through experimentation (Toutkoushian and Paulsen, 2016). Three (3) of the most centralized questions or areas of concern that economist explores to better understand decision makers’ behaviors are: (a) Who are the decision makers and the impact the decisions they make have on the staff and student body as it relates to the lack of resources organizations within their department face. (b) What are the decision maker’s goal, for example, can deans, chairmen, and other governing bodies use existing resources to better attract high-ability students while maintaining budget. Perhaps an increase in in award amounts (scholarship) attract very highly-able students. (c) The constraints that are to be overcome in decision making depends on many factors; budgeting seems to be the one of the most challenging, especially when it comes to educating students. This obstacle has forced decision-makers to re-examine the way funds are allocated, and distributed and received in order to receive the optimum result as it relates to cost benefit analysis. Furthermore, these decisions are directly a result of some of the many difficult choices to be made when allocating the limited resources available to best benefit the organizations and departments served.
Assumptions, although not as accurate, are necessary to determine an expected end or result. “The problem is that the investment in human capital model overlooks some of the unique attributes of college which should properly be viewed as both an investment and consumption food,” as explained by the author referring those who actually make the final decisions for budgeting and resources allotment (Toutkoushian and Paulsen, 2016, p.2). Competition for funds has increased in both the public and private sector over the last decade and is likely to continue into the future (Barr and McClellan, 2018). This reality identifies the barriers in place for all institutions, nation-wide, more difficult to maneuver. The marketplace has become a battleground for competition. At the state level, accommodations for the aging, prison population growth, pubic safety enforcement, and infrastructure improvement have added to the strain. When considering private education, resources are even more scare, therefore increasing the cost to compensate for the quality of student, location, and service.
References
Barr, M. J., & McClellan, G. (2018). Budget and Financial Management in Higher Education (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Toutkoushian, R.K., & Paulsen, M. (2016). Economics of Higher Education: Background, Concepts, and Applications. Springer.
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