Why Universities Grow

Discussions over holiday dinner tables led to an interesting set of observations about growth over time in universities throughout the world. Some observations noted how post-secondary education appears to be viewed as a key driver to the societal development in many countries. Often these are direct investments of national governments. The expansion of universities in China and India are examples.

Some of this growth might also be an indirect effect of globalization, as enterprises operating in multiple nations seek to build local staffs with skills suitable to sophisticated supply chains. Having local staff deeply knowledgeable of the culture and regulatory environment has corporate advantages. The desired operations’ knowledge and technical skills, however, are often those that demand university educations. Global firms create demand for university graduates wherever they operate.

Increasingly, universities’ service to local communities is being recognized. Colleges and universities create clusters of spinoff organizations that benefit the job market, economic tax base, cultural richness, and vibrancy of a community. Some faculty create businesses. Graduates tend to stay in town and build their careers locally. For land-grant universities, direct support of agricultural activities are part of their mission. For universities that have schools of medicine and associated hospitals, the quality of community health care can be enhanced. Such services increase demand for more.

All of these features of post-secondary education institutions contribute to their growth.

However, many of the above are the indirect effects of an essential attribute of research universities. These are the institutions that continuously add to human knowledge and insight. University research and scholarship build future societies. Basic research produces the deeper understanding of features of the natural world. Later, sometimes decades later, new products implementing the findings are given to the world, making lives easier and more fulfilling. The arts and humanities constantly innovate and create new ways to appreciate life and express deep emotions central to being human.

In the last 100 years, this type of research has created whole new fields of knowledge. Research tends to accumulate. It may start out with new theories, followed by developments and scholarship that support them. As theories move to applications, in the sciences and social sciences, research teams often emerge. They form research centers or institutes, with the mission to enhance understanding and application of the new findings. Growth of research universities disproportionately begins with new research programs.

As the fields mature, new occupational families arise. Witness digital journalism, data science, neuroscience, bioethics, environmental studies, international diplomacy, and media studies. As new occupations arise, students interested in them seek formal training to prepare themselves for such careers. New academic degree programs emerge to serve the demand for the occupations.

Human knowledge doesn’t seem to atrophy or decline over time. “Old” knowledge still exists and remains a stimulus to new knowledge. “Old” fields continue to evolve, often in spurts of creativity and intellectual turmoil, to achieve new insights. Of course, research efforts that do not yield positive outcomes are ended by negative peer reviews, and the scholar turns to other efforts.

Hence, it is more common for universities to evolve new features, not to destroy existing features. This attribute distinguishes universities from private sector enterprises solely focused on profit maximization, which tend to drop unpopular services or products. There is, of course, an ebb and flow in demand for courses in various fields. However, those productive of knowledge of how the natural world works, how societies and individuals behave, are the producers of basic insights that enhance future lives.

As knowledge expands, universities tend to expand. Successful knowledge expansion is supported; lack of success dies out of its own accord. Fields merge and morph. The wisdom needed to support universities over time requires deep understanding of the life course of new ideas as they move from radical new thoughts, to cohesive theories, to replicated research support, to everyday applications that no one even associates with research.