浅谈我国面临的绿色贸易壁垒问题及对策(4)

understood not only as institutions that provided education in practical fields of knowledge but as central cultural institutions in society. In the 19th century, science and research were added to the academic mission. Universities were recognized as special institutions by society precisely because their goals went beyond everyday commerce. Now, all of this is under threat.

The academic community itself is in considerable part responsible for the changes. Some universities have all too willingly allowed themselves to be caught up in commercial activities and to compromise their traditional roles. The establishment of ―for-profit‖ subsidiaries by such renowned institutions as New York University and Columbia

University is symbolic of these compromises. Monash University, a well-known Australian institution, is establishing profit making branches overseas. The University of Chicago’s business school has opened branches in Spain and Singapore. Universities in China devote much of their attention to providing profit-making consulting and setting up technology companies. Many universities have gone ―online‖ to sell their courses and degrees to customers in all parts of the world.

If universities are to survive as intellectual institutions, they must pay close attention to their core responsibilities of teaching, learning, and research.

Maintaining loyalty to traditional academic values will not be easy, but the costs of growing commercialization are much greater.

Governments and other public authorities need to give the universities the support they need to fulfill their mission. Constantly squeezing the budget, demanding ever greater accountability, and insisting that the university fundamentally change its goals does not in the long run serve the public interest. The public must also respect the underlying values of higher education.

The developing countries have special academic needs that must be protected, and any WTO-style treaty would inevitably harm the emerging academic systems of the developing countries. Third World universities are now involved in many international relationships, but these arrangements are based on national needs and allow choice among programs and partners.

The proposed WTO initiatives bring all of the pressures now being felt by universities worldwide into sharp focus. If higher education worldwide were subject to the strictures of the WTO, academe would be significantly altered. The idea that the university serves a broad public good would be weakened, and the universities would be subject to all of the commercial pressures of the market-place—a marketplace enforced by international treaties and legal requirements. The goal of having the university contribute to national development and the strengthening of civil society in developing countries would be impossible to fulfill. Universities are indeed special institutions with a long history and a societal mission that deserve support. Subjecting academe to the rigors of a

WTO-enforced marketplace would destroy one of the most valuable institutions in any society.

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