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But universities were not made possible by rising levels of productivity, as the GP claimed. They were there long, long before. Certainly a greater proportion
by NeedMoreTea 7y ago
But universities were not made possible by rising levels of productivity, as the GP claimed. They were there long, long before.
Certainly a greater proportion go to university now than used to. Which came after.
Current levels of university attendance are far more down to pushing university as the right tertiary education, in place of apprenticeships; technical and vocational. Many governments have made policy to increase university attendance whilst closing or downplaying those other options.
- mlyle 7y agoI'm not talking about undergraduate university attendance, but the number of people employed in research. When we focus on higher institutions of research, it's what the author of the article was talking about, too. The number of people in that category was miniscule before 1700, and has exploded in the past 300 years. Yes, there were (a comparatively small number of) universities before this time, doing qualitatively different things. But capitalism paid the bills to transform them into institutions driving scientific advancement.