This will be fixed when there is a suitable economic signal, which can accurately be used by the customers of universities in order to estimate the quality of i

This will be fixed when there is a suitable economic signal, which can accurately be used by the customers of universities in order to estimate the quality of instruction at a university. If this sounds like a ranking, let me remind you that the rankings have been destroyed by Goodhart's law for decades now. Markets depend on some level at consumers who know what they're buying; if all of the consumers are blindfolded, firms will sell them pieces of paper. If a university can attract students by investing in its instructors, it will do so. Currently they can't.