The Cambridge English Dictionary defines education as the process of teaching or learning in school or the knowledge that one obtains out of this process. Higher education, on the other hand, is defined by Brittanica as any of various types of post-secondary education whose objective is the preparation of students for entry into various fields of specialization. Overtime, the proliferation of higher education institutions has spawned an unprecedented competition for survival and relevance. This has seen higher education advertising become conventional, so much that one wonders, is higher education for sale?
Access to higher education can be quite competitive depending on a wide range of factors including reputation of institution, level of specialization, field of study, affirmative action and funding amongst others. Higher education institutions go to great lengths to build a reputation for themselves. The media is awash with adverts touting such and such an institution as being the best around the world.
Advertising makes great economic sense for the institutions’ survival; a good reputation is directly proportional to the numbers of student applications for admission and with the numbers comes the money. Nonetheless, is it ethical to advertise higher education? Does it not inhibit focus on the essence of the institutions’ existence?
When higher education institutions claim that they are the best, the credibility of such claims becomes questionable. It remains unclear whether such claims are made objectively within the context of other institutions, or, they are just arbitrary claims amounting to deceptive advertising. Perhaps instead of focussing such great attention towards advertising, the institutions must better redirect their efforts towards the primary aspect of their existence, education. The quality of their education must be allowed to speak for itself.
Higher education institutions need to tone down on advertising. Higher education is not for sale.
AMOS KALUA 