Historical and Current Roles in Higher Education Research Paper

Historical and Current Roles in Higher Education - Research Paper Example Historically, education served as a mechanism through which the public good was advanced. However, currently, this ideology has changed over the years and new roles erupted. For instance, the societal benefits of education have changed to individual benefits. Institutions are equipping the students with the necessary skills that will enable them to fit in the job market. Therefore, the modern role of education is value addition (Hensley,  Galilee-Belfer, & Lee,  2013). The perception that education is the only existing gateway to the middle-class has increased the demand for education in the modern society. Therefore, more institutions have come up in order to fill this gap. However, this has affected the quality of education in the country (Lansverk, 2013). This is because institutions are now highly concerned about the numbers they admit rather than the quality of the information being disseminated to the students. Education is currently perceived as a one time investment expenditure. As a result, parents are willing to spend a fortune in order to equip their children with education. This has played a significant role in increasing the overall costs of college education. In an attempt to get a share of the mega profits, private institutions that are run using a business model have mushroomed. It is believed that education leads to the improvement of public health and welfare. As a result, the government has been instrumental in ensuring that more children gain a degree. In order to achieve this ambition more institutions of higher learning have been established. This explains the reason why the number of both the public and private institutions have increased tremendously. It is believed that education increases happiness, improve the living standards of a household and improve the financial management of the individuals. The government feels that it has a role of improving the living