The phenomena of academic capitalism - Entrepreneurialism in higher education institutions

The debate over the phenomena of academic capitalism has been brought to the fore since the late years of the previous century following the publication of some major books and ground-breaking research on the matter. This debate has ever since intensified especially when it was apparent that academic capitalism and entrepreneurialism in universities were already becoming the new reality and the only means of survival in the world of higher education. Although the academic capital accumulation activities and entrepreneurialism initiatives inside universities were modestly introduced starting from the late years of the previous century, they are now publically announced, and are seen as the new paradigm of development for universities. The higher education world is cautiously witnessing the rising concerns about what actually happened to universities since the late 1990s, and whether or not academic capitalism and entrepreneurialism were the road to all evil. Universities and researchers have also debated that capital accumulation and entrepreneurial activities can work for the good and for the profit for both the public mission of education and the sustainability of the institution. They justified that by the creation of the hybrid model of universities that run both basic research with acceptable levels of autonomy as well as applied research with acceptable levels of industry-liaison and heteronomy. The closer the industry liaison with universities, the more influence these industries will have on the research agendas and polices, the so called hybrid model promotes a merely knowledge based economy that inevitably changes the nature of research from its native mission searching for the truth to searching for way to enhance industrialism