大学制度演变的经济学分析

Evolution of University System: An Economic Perspective

从经济形态上说,大学是各类教育资源主体之间的一种产权安排,不同类型的大学制度是主体产权的不同配置的结果。经济制度是导致大学形态产生的重要因素之一,高等教育具有社团大学、国立(公立)大学、私立非营利性大学、私立营利性大学四种类型,分属三种权利组合模式:合并模式、分离模式和无所有人模式。不同类型的大学由于所有权配置不同,其交易费用存在很大差别。大学制度演变的方向:成本最小化,这也是大学制度演变的内在动力之一。

In an economic perspective, universities are a kind of property arrangement among subjects of educational resources, and different kinds of university systems are the outcome of different allocations of subject property. Economic system is one of the important factors causing varied university shapes. Higher education has undergone four stages of development: corporation-sponsored universities, state-sponsored public universities, non-profitable private universities and profitable private universities, which fall into three modes of property rights: merging mode, separation mode and non-ownership mode. For different types of property allocation, there exist sharp differences of transaction costs among different types of universities. The minimization of costs is both the orientation and inner power of university system evolution.