Public Good in Higher Education Research-Transition of the Concept and Discussions in Higher Education

The International Journal of Higher Education Research

Abstract

　 This exploratory research aims to provide an overview of the concept of public good in higher education research. Research and discussion on this topic have been limited in the field of higher education research in Japan, although publicness has been a popular subject of academic discourse in other fields of education and public philosophy.

　 This article outlines and analyzes the use and discussion of the concept of public good among researchers in Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research since the 1970s. The comprehensive survey demonstrates the shift in the focus from the analysis of public goods as an economic concept in educational planning to the promotion of normative and social values of higher education against marketization and academic capitalism. Moreover, the concept has been renewed and expanded to incorporate public roles of universities toward social justice. At the same time, the economic concept of public goods has faced increased difficulty due to the further blending of private and public domains across dimensions, such as policies, resources, and stakeholders. Recently, some reseachers explored the concept of common good as an attempt to overcome such limitations and to reconceptualize education as a responsibility shared by both private and public actors.

　 Based on the overview of the literature, the article discusses implications for the field of higher education research in Japan, which include the significance of discussing normative values of higher education and the need for more empirical research that may be applied to teaching, research, policies, and management toward the public good.