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It also critiques “commodification” and its effects on competition, collaboration, equity, and educational quality.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/bm70-bergen-policy-paper-on-higher-education-public-responsibility-governance-and-financing/583488/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/bm70-bergen-policy-paper-on-higher-education-public-responsibility-governance-and-financing/583488.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Jacob","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-11","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why does the paper oppose treating higher education as a commodity?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It argues that framing education as a market service contradicts the social values and norms attached to higher education and risks degrading quality and equity.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the paper define open access and its significance?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Open access to all levels of education is presented as the cornerstone of an inclusive society and as a prerequisite for individual and societal development and well-being.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What is “commodification of higher education,” according to the paper?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It is described as the shift in perception from higher education as a public good and responsibility to a private, limited commodity where institutions act as service providers and students as consumers.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},583488,1792211116,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":109,"preview_page_count":4},962084931830,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","BM70-BERGEN  \nPolicy paper on public responsibility, governance and financing of higher education  \n1. Introduction  \nEducation is a core institution of our society and one of the main pillars of modern civilisation. It plays a central role in social and economic development, democratic empowerment and the advancement of the general well-being of societies.  \nESU believes that open access to all levels of education is the cornerstone of a socially, culturally and democratically inclusive society, and a pre-requisite for individual and societal development and well-being. ESU sees higher education as a human right, which is guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  \nHow education is seen in society, how it is funded and how it is governed are tightly interlinked areas. Addressing higher education as a commodity and students as consumers who purchase the service goes against the fundamental social values and norms attributed to higher education. Students should therefore be treated as members of the higher education community, sharing the responsibility and rights to govern this central institution of our civilisation.  \n2. Higher education as public good and public responsibility  \nHigher education is and has always been a human institution for advancing and passing on cultural and intellectual heritage. Higher education institutions are, or should be places where  \nthere is interaction between a variety of scientific, cultural and intellectual fields. They are sources of scientific development, critical thought and conservation, and they contribute to the intellectually active adulthoods of millions of people. Expanding universities to include more students and professors from a wider variety of social, economic, ethnic, national, and linguistic backgrounds has added to diversity and the function of defending equality and inclusion for all.  \nEducation is a public good, a public responsibility, and should be publicly steered and supported. Higher education is all too often presented as an expense. Higher education is a general interest of all people, as it contributes to the common good by increasing the general level of education in society. Higher education is a value that should not become subject to economic speculation and prey to the ideologies of privatisation and the shrinking of the state. ESU therefore calls for all stakeholders to commit to this as a leading principle to be taken into consideration in all their decisions.  \nEducation for Sustainable Development (ESD)  \nSustainable development and active citizenship is meaningful part of the public responsibility of higher education, and key in empowering students to shape a sustainable future. Higher education institutions should integrate key sustainable development issues in local and global contexts in their teaching and research in order to fulfil their obligation towards creating more sustainable societies. Education for sustainable development should cover a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, the environment, civic competences, and democratic participation. Delivering quality ESD depends on far-reaching changes in how we deliver education today, something which SCL should and could help to address. Education for sustainable development and active citizenship should be planned and executed in cooperation with student organisation.  \nCommodification  \nIn the prevailing political discourse, education has come to be understood solely as an economic factor rather than a tool for social development. Education markets are established out of instrumentalisation and the changing perception of education purely as an economic factor and  \nresource for prosperity. This has led to a trend that ESU refers to as the commodification of higher education, defined as the changing perception of higher education from a public good and public responsibility to a private and limit","cbCaikzkwoBMpP3N","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikzkwoBMpP3N","pdf",245979,16,"English","# Introduction\n## Higher education as public good and public responsibility\n## Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)\n## Commodification","[{\"question\":\"Why does the paper oppose treating higher education as a commodity?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that framing education as a market service contradicts the social values and norms attached to higher education and risks degrading quality and equity.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper define open access and its significance?\",\"answer\":\"Open access to all levels of education is presented as the cornerstone of an inclusive society and as a prerequisite for individual and societal development and well-being.\"},{\"question\":\"What is “commodification of higher education,” according to the paper?\",\"answer\":\"It is described as the shift in perception from higher education as a public good and responsibility to a private, limited commodity where institutions act as service providers and students as consumers.\"}]","BM70-BERGEN - Policy Paper on Higher Education Public Responsibility, Governance and Financing | PDF",1792047413]