Explore the argument
Regulation and the quasi-market
Universities compete intensely, but they cannot use many of the tools available to ordinary firms.
The key pointThe system combines market pressure with restrictions on price, ownership, collaboration, restructuring and exit.
The system asks universities to compete for students, staff, research income and reputation. Yet the market is designed and bounded by public policy.
Competition without ordinary freedoms
Prices are partly controlled. Institutions have charitable objects and public duties. Exit is politically difficult. Mergers and shared services encounter regulatory, legal and institutional barriers.
Calling this simply a market or simply a public service misses the mechanism. Quasi-market is useful because it directs attention to the mixture.
This explainer will map the principal regulators and show which decisions sit with institutions, government, funders and lenders.