That's the theory. The practice as I can observe at my state school is that the administration asks "how many students did we graduate this year" when they sho

That's the theory. The practice as I can observe at my state school is that the administration asks "how many students did we graduate this year" when they should be asking "how rigorously were the students taught". It would be in the students' best interest if there was presssure for the faculty to do an acceptable job, but since tuition constitutes a substantial part of the university's operating income the focus is on recruitment and retention, where it really doesn't belong. There are some Young Turks protesting the status quo amongst the faculty, but none amongst the administration, the students or their parents. On the other hand, if the university was tax-funded, then the interests of faculty, administration and well-performing students would be aligned. At the moment they are not.