The market model in higher education, Ontario in comparative perspective

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis documents the introduction of market mechanisms in the allocation of public and private funds in the Ontario university system. This thesis brings greater conceptual clarity to the central notions of "public," "private" and "market" as they apply to higher education, as well as to the concept of "marketization" and "privatization." It is here argued that marketization and privatization are profoundly different processes of government-initiated change, and that Ontario universities, instead of undergoing a process of privatization, are m fact entering into more market-like arrangements with the government and with one another. Marketization is, rather, a compromise between privatization, central-style planning and academic autonomy, where the market is a metaphor for organizing government-initiated change and control. Using the definition of marketization developed in the first part of the thesis, major finance policy developments are examined in England and Australia, with the intent of demonstrating their market-like character. Turning back to Ontario, the thesis then traces the development of higher education finance policy m Ontario and provides an overview of policy change in Ontario to 1995. Finally, the implementation of marketization in Ontario is demonstrated through an analysis of the major finance policy changes introduced in Ontario since 1995. The thesis ultimately clarifies the use of the notion of marketization as it relates to state control.Ph.D