Colleges and universities were once places where students came to learn, experts, intellectuals, and others came to teach, and where knowledge was created. Today, America's higher education system is severely compromised by commodification and corporatization, which have transformed higher education into a marketplace. This book examines the effects of these transformations, providing a comprehensive critique of the problems the sector faces.

It outlines how higher education's commodification has impacted areas including affordability, access, waste, hierarchal administrative structures, faculty governance, the college sports industrial complex, and status and social mobility based on institutional prestige. The authors explore alternative policy solutions and examples of systems of higher education that are both effective and cost-effective. They propose a forward-looking agenda for structural reform that is less expensive and more educationally sound than the current model. Emphasising social cohesion, sustainability, a respect for diversity and an understanding of democracy and democratic principles, Failing Universities offers alternative solutions for US higher education to return to its basic mission.

Howard Karger is a former professor of social work and a three-time Senior Fulbright Scholar. His experience in higher education covers 40 years in academic and administrative roles in religious, public, international and private universities. He was previously the PhD director at the University of Houston (UH), USA, and served on the executive committee of the Faculty Senate, and Head of School at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Howard was director of the School of Social Work at Hawaii Pacific University (HPU), USA, where he retired in 2019. In addition to administrative experience, Howard is the author or co-author of 10 books and 90 articles or book chapters, and has sat on several editorial boards.

David Stoesz, PhD, is the founder of Up$tart (https://www.upstartbenefits.com), developing innovative software to optimize economic supports for low-income college students. He has published 14 books, including Quixote's Ghost: The Right, the Liberati, and the Future of Social Policy (2016), which won the Pro Humanitate Literary Award. A veteran professor, David has taught at a women's college, two HBCUs, and was appointed to an endowed Chair at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. He has received two Fulbright Distinguished Chair awards: Great Britain in 2014 and Australia in 2017. In 2010 he was inducted into the National Academy of Social Insurance.