Ivory Tower
Ivory Tower is a documentary that addresses the cost of higher education in America and the implications that the education has for the youths in America. The movie creates an overall picture of how the higher education system cripples the economy as a result of the high debts by the students. This information is established from the perspective of statistics given by administrators, academics, and different authors, thus, giving a firm stand on the positioning of the education system on the nation economy. The total students’ debts as addressed in the movie totals over one trillion dollars. The main issue lies in the possibility of most of the students having a potential in failing to pay the debt based on the increasingly limited job opportunities. The documentary addresses a key concern in most colleges where education is no longer considered the core reason for the students joining the varsities but as a place for the learners to gain experience. As such, more finances are allocated in the building of recreational facilities and complex residential facilities, which incur significant costs on the nationwide economy. The core reason behind spending such finances in expanding the facilities within the institutions is to entice more applicants. The students incur the cost of expanding these facilities. Moreover, the quality of education is reduced as the movie depicts an increase in the number of schools and an excess number of administrators. The movie depicts the poor education system where 68% of the students in the public universities fail to achieve the needed requirements for graduating after four years. The general education condition in the colleges is explained via a footage of student at Arizona State University who are having merry around the massive swimming pool while indulging in drugs abuse.
By contrast, a university such as Harvard is depicted to provide the best quality education as it provides the necessary financial aid and world-class education. An instance on how the University matches the required standards is depicted by the case of David Boone who is a freshman that was formerly homeless. However, upon joining the university, he was provided with a dorm room and a bed that gives him the comfortability needed for effective learning. The University is known for giving the scholars not only experience but also the necessary skills as evidenced by the success of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates who we once scholars in the University. However, the success of these two dropouts questions the relevance of college education, which is outweighed by having technological skills that were the foundation of their success.
Ivory Tower movie is formulated in such a way that it addresses several elements that make up such a complex subject within the ninety-seven minutes of the movie play. The movie does not advance on a single subject but rather sheds light on all the complex alternatives associated with higher education. Some of the examples given in the movie regarding how the education should transform to benefit learners in today’s world are the example of Deep Springs College. The school is established in a cattle ranch in Death Valley. The students, a group of twenty-six or so young men, not only engage in academics, but also seek experience by conducting physical activities that will equip them with skills needed for future services in the society. Amongst such physical activities include mending fences. Ivory Tower maintains an open-minded attitude towards people who utilize life skills such as billionaire Peter Thiel for making their lives better. As such, this entrepreneur offers students a maximum of $100,000 for students who have creative ideas to establish their own startups rather than going through the college education system. Such form of motivation gives the youths an opportunity to be open minded and seek more opportunities outside their academics. A similar example linked to the skeptical approach of entrepreneur Peter Thiel is the San Francisco Uncollege movement. Such movements encourage the students as per the movie to think beyond the academics and be more creative and innovative.
The movie depicts the conflict between students and the administration over the tuition fees charged. Such conflict is depicted in the New York school Architecture in 2013; the students protested against the payment of tuition fees. For over 150 years, the students benefited from full tuition scholarship. However, in 2011, the school announced that the economics was increasingly becoming hard hence the need to break the traditions by charging all the students a tuition fee. The movie depicts the fraud and economics challenges in the colleges were Rossi confronts Bharucha about the mismanagement of school funds allocated for projects in the school. Rossi also confronts Bharucha of the handsome compensation that he is entitled to. The movie is established on realistic approach on how the education system in America is gradually declining in quality. Similarly, the movie gives the viewer a concern on the future of American leaders. Whatsoever, it gives the viewer hopes and inspiration. After all, the success of a person is not determined by the education system only but also the life skills and experience gained while in the education system. One of the student in the movie who once occupied the Bharucha’s office asserts that the Cooper Union is making a historic turn whereby the school has to reaffirm its commitment to giving free education. The Union shows that the schools not only engage in incorporating knowledge to the students but also serves as a platform for preparing future leaders.
According to Universities UK (2015), the higher education industry, which includes the Universities and the colleges, exhibits a steady growth as per the ever-growing world economy. There is a need to boost the competitiveness of individuals in the job market, which in turn motivate many people to pursue higher education. Common trends in higher education industry include an increase in college enrollment and increase in government funding as the economics continue growing hard. Similarly, there is an emergence of new higher education institutions which are projected to grow continuously at the same rate as the US economy. The Higher education industry is evolving at such a dramatic pace. Several changes are witnessed in different education segments such as in the population demographics, competition and the new ways of education delivery, which have transformed from person to person education system to online education delivery (BCG, 2017). One of the common trends in both private, public, for-profit institutions and nonprofit institutions, is the trend of a growing industry. For successful thriving of the many institutions that are established, it is essential for the administration to scan for both the negative and positive changes in the industry.
The change in demographics in the higher education system is depicted in the student body where the ruling age group varies significantly from the past era. The student body has transformed into accommodating many younger students who study full-time. In comparison with the mature part-time students, the number of the younger students has increased significantly. Students under the age of 25 years fill three-quarters if the undergraduate courses while the age bracket fills one-third of the post graduate courses. Statistics show that the number of full-time students in the universities has increased from 62% to 74% over a decade (Universities UK, 2015). There has been a change in the age of students and the mode of study that they utilize. There has been an increase in the number of students from foreign countries, which adds up to the reason behind building such many higher education learning institutions. There has been an increase in the number of students outside the EU, which has risen from 9% in 2005 to 13% in 2015 (Universities UK, 2015). Such increase in the number of students has both negative and positive consequences on the society. In a report made in 2012. As such, the growing number of foreign students has increased and the economy declined after most of the students such as the foreign students from India finish their courses and proceed to sell the skills in their home countries.
The economy is also one of the sectors that are continuously growing as evidenced by the statistics, which show an increase in the total income of the finances from the students in the UK rising from £18.0 billion in 2005 to £30.7 billion in the 2013 2014 report (Universities UK, 2015). Some of the financial changes experienced in the higher education demographics include an increase in the tuition fees and a decline in the research income. Based on the statistics, the economy has grown drastically from 24.1% of the income in the UK in 2004-2005 coming from the education contracts and tuition fee. The figure has risen from this statistics to education contracts and statistics adding up to 44.5% of the income as per the 2013-2014 statistics (Universities UK, 2015). There has been a decline in the grants allocated for the development of these educational institutions.
Globalization in the higher education system has been accelerating as evidenced by the increased mobility of the students. Bright students from even countries outside the EU travel to the major Universities seeking higher education (BCG, 2017). As such, there is a global competition unlike the past where students from different countries meet in the same varsity where they gave to share the same curriculum and the best excel as per the system. An instance of globalization in the higher education system is depicted in the US where the enrollment of the students doubled from the statistics recorded in the year 1992-1993 as compared to recent statistics of 2012-2013. International students enrollment increased by 4% where most of the students originated from countries such as India, South Korea and China (BCG, 2017).
Porter’s Five analysis framework
Degree of Industry Rivalry
Most of the institutions in the higher education industry have a high fixed cost to total ration, which makes them operate at a capacity of realizing their economies of scale. Most of the institutions have some limited resources and lower fixed cost, which consequently leads to lower fixed costs. At a glimpse, the growth of the higher education industry is expected to be higher in future with the number of students enrolled in the universities and colleges at least doubling. As this demand escalates, the universities respond to the situation by enrolling more students, which brings rivalry in the industry since the institutions have varying resources as depicted earlier, hence, the students choose the best quality institutions. Therefore, the degree of industry rivalry is very high.
Barriers of Entry
Several facilities established in the institutions depict the many barriers of entry. As such, starting capital is one of the primary barriers since there are many assets needed for long-term use in the institutions. Similarly, there are several education regulations that the administrators have to adhere to for them to establish the institutions. Therefore, the barriers of entry are at a medium level.
Threat of Product or Service Substitutions
Several years ago, the learning institutions were not as advanced as to day whereby globalization is evident in most of the high education institutions. Students can access education from even far away countries which evidences service substitutions. With the fast evolving technology, there is a high risk for product or service substitutions.
Degree of Buyer Power
The US has no specific target groups representing the higher education market share. The possible customers are fragmented all over the many high schools in US. The universities do not give the buyers room for tuition rates or any admission requirements. As such, the higher institutions have a high ability of choosing their buyers.
Degree of Supplier Power
The degree of supplier power matches the economy of the state. When the number of suppliers is limited, then the total cost of supplying will be high. The degree of supplier power in most of the higher education institutions is very high.
If I were the president of a highly funded public university such as Michigan State, I would readily make significant changes in the issues addressed in the movie, Ivory Tower. I would transform the education system to be not only a bridge where the students were expected to pass in life so as to achieve high social status in life but as a platform of incorporating necessary skills to cope up with the up to date competitive market. As such, I would encourage creativity and innovation where most of the students would land their own deals that will ensure self-employment. Similarly, I would fully support the idea of giving students startup capital to invest in their business, which they would repay gradually as the business becomes more established. Other changes that I would add would be close evaluation of the students enrolling the universities. The essence of this move would be to increase the quality of university education whereby students with only the required requirement and not capital to pay for the tuition fees would be allowed to enroll in the University. Lastly, I would ensure discipline was highly upheld through taking strict disciplinary action on all the students engaging in uncouth behavior against the university rules, which would be rewritten by a selected disciplinary committee.
References
BCG. (2017). Five Trends to Watch in Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/education_public_sector_five_trends_watch_higher_education/?chapter=2
Universities UK, (2015). Patterns and Trends in UK higher Education 2015 (pp. 5-31). London: Universities UK.
