How Competition Is Killing Higher Education

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Competition, we are constantly told,encourages individuals, institutions and companies to take therisks necessary for innovation and efficiency. But in highereducation, competition often discourages risk taking, leads tooverly cautious short-term decisions, produces a mediocreproduct for the price, and promotes excessive spending onphysical plants and bureaucracies.

The construction arms race on campus is the most visibleexample of competition run amok. To become more attractive topotential consumers, many colleges and universities undertakeoverly ambitious expansions. In some cases, new facilitiescontribute to educational programs, but too often they aretangential and trap institutions in a costly cycle: The newathletic center, dorm or student center starts to look fadedwhen competing schools open theirs, and it never ends.