美国大学高价教材困局的生成与纾解

The Generation and Relief of the Dilemma of High-Priced College Textbooks in America

美国大学教材价格近四十年来一路飞涨,导致高等教育成本升高,并进一步恶化了大学生债务危机,因此受到学生群体的抗议和抵制。为纾解高价教材的困局,美国政府、高校和出版商采取了多项积极措施,特别是出版商推进数字化教材建设并引入开放教材新业态,高价教材困局得到一定纾解,大学生的教材支出有所下降,大学教材类型和获取方式也更为多样。然而,出版商的不良销售行为、数字化教材的先天缺陷和开放教材的发展不足等问题依然存在。围绕美国大学教材产业的多方利益团体之间的博弈也将长期存在。

The prices of American college textbooks have soared all the way for nearly four decades,causing higher costs of education and further deteriorating the college student debt crisis,thus causing protests and resistance by the college student community.In order to alleviate the dilemma of high-priced textbooks,the US government,universities and publishers have taken a number of positive measures.Publishers promoted the development of digital teaching materials and introduced open textbooks as new business model.High-priced textbooks dilemma is relieved,college students’ textbooks spending has decreased,types of textbooks and access methods are getting more diversified.However,problems such as bad sales behavior of publishers,congenital defects in digital textbooks and insufficient development of open textbooks remain.The game between multiple interest groups around the American university textbook industry will also exist permanently.