Univer$ity of Phoenix

[Gordon Fitch]

Doug Henwood:
> Chronicle of Higher Education - web daily - June 26, 2000
>
> Enrollment in Degree Programs at U. of Phoenix Grows by 22%
> By JEFFREY BRAINARD
>
> The University of Phoenix -- a national for-profit chain whose growth
> has been closely watched in higher education -- reported on Friday
> that enrollment in its degree programs rose by 22 percent over the
> past year, to 75,057 students.
>
> The university, which has locations in 15 states, Puerto Rico, and
> Canada, saw continued rapid growth in its online enrollment. That
> figure grew by 44.7 percent, to 13,779 students pursuing degree
> programs, according to the Apollo Group Inc., which operates the
> university. The corporation reported that the gains occurred from May
> 31, 1999, to May 31 of this year.
>
> The University of Phoenix also reported growing enrollment at its
> campuses that were established before the 1995 fiscal year. That
> figure rose by 15.9 percent, to 60,541 students enrolled in degree
> programs as of May 31.
>
> The Apollo Group also operates other institutions and educational
> programs, some of which do not offer academic degrees. Over all, the
> company reported that total enrollment in its degree-equivalent
> programs was 94,255 on May 31, an increase of 19.2 percent over the
> previous year.

I would think that to a large extent the exchange value of a
degree -- and the amount of tuition that could be charged for
it -- would depend not on the knowledge and skills supposedly
acquired but on the credentialization of class position and
bourgeois acculturization, including the myth of access to a
higher, purer knowledge than that available to lower and less
esteemed categories, such as those who merely visit libraries,
buy books, learn on the job, or acquire obscure languages at
their mother's knee.  That being the case, the movement of
academic institutions toward the rough-and-ready world of
commerce and the market seems fraught with peril, although
the first in, one supposes, can profitably exploit the old
repute and aura while any of it still remains.

However, I think a fairly serious problem is going to arise
when corporations begin to sequester a substantial proportion
of all extant useful knowledge.  I am reminded of the Japanese
sovereign of long ago who supposedly had the Portuguese teach
him the higher mathematics of the day (long division?), but
at the same time made them swear on pain of death to impart
the skill to nobody else.