Re:The Slow Death of the University (2015)
by TheCowboy on Friday January 01, 2016 @04:36PM
(#10823590)
I don't think the lifespan figure usually accounts for mergers and acquisitions. It is not always clear that a company "died" if it still continues under a different corporate brand.
I haven't found any articles that try to sift the data based on this, so it's possible that it isn't a significant factor.
It might be interesting to compare this recent period of consolidation with the turn of the century when Pres. Theodore Roosevelt became known as a "trust-buster".
Re:The Slow Death of the University (2015)
by cafard on Friday January 01, 2016 @06:07PM
(#10823966)
Interesting point. I remember that the University of Denver ended up with the physical plant of Colorado Women's College, but to what extent it assimilated it otherwise--faculty, staff, students, programs--I don't think I ever heard. Apparently Yale once had the notion that absorbing Vassar would be a quick way to go coeducational. I can't offhand think of other consolidations or proposed consolidations of colleges, though.
Given how many corporations do dwindle and fail, it's hard for me to believe that the lifespan would be categorically different. Even if it were doubled because of mergers, that wouldn't change the logic.
Tldr; Universities used to be structured like cities, or be an extension of a city. Cities are so far essentially immortal. In keeping with modern doctrine, universities have been transformed into commercial corporations. We know that as a form, corporations have a limited lifespan. The average lifespan of a company in the s&p 500 has decreased over the last century from 67 years to around 15.
If you turn a university into a corporation, you limit its lifespan and should expect it to die after a few decades. The evidence is clear.