Competition among academic institutions

Muniyappa, K (2006) Competition among academic institutions. In: Current Science, 91 (5). pp. 565-566.

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Abstract

The month-long world cup soccer tournament held in Germany has just ended. Since the inaugural world cup tournament in Uruguay in 1930, the number of national teams that qualify for every tournament has been steadily increasing: 32 national teams competed for gold in 2006, indicating that competiton for glory and gold is continuously on the rise. A couple of these teams that were favoured, and deserved to win the gold failed for different reasons. What triggered Zinedine Zidane head-butting himself out of the world cup? Perhaps a slur on his race or a defaming remark on his mother/sister? The jury is still deliberating on this unfortunate incident. Regrettably, in sports as well as in other professions, the response is punished but not the provocation! Many of those who played for their national teams during the world cup, are also on the rosters of the premier league soccer teams in the EU, South America and elsewhere. Corporations, syndicates or wealthy families own the league teams. Coaches, assistant coaches, assistants to assistant coaches, publicists and other likeminded people manage the league teams. They acquire these players through bidding wars; whoever bids higher gets the ‘hot’ player. Since there are some similarities between academic institutions and professional sports with regard to recruitment and retention, it might be of interest to consider what counts as acceptable or unacceptable practices in the higher education system. In the US, like in professional sports, administrators at research institutions and universities vie with one another to attract quality students and faculty members to broaden their recognition factor. The bidding wars are especially widespread among non-state universities and research institutions. The resources necessary for such activities are not from the Government, but by donations from corporations, alumni and wealthy families, not necessarily in that order.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Current Science
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences.
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Biochemistry
Date Deposited:	08 Dec 2006
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:32
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/8830

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