"Universities can't be managed as public administration departments. They should be handled as public firms, knowing (beforehand) what is the contribution of the state (funds), and then having to raise their own funds. They should be able to make their own management decisions, which is not the case now. Their product price, i.e. the students fees, is fixed by (national) law. Their clients, the students, are determined (centrally) by the ministerium. As it is the quantity to be produced, i.e. the number of admitted students, and the price of their resources, i.e. how much they pay to the administrative and teaching staff. With these restrictions, which enterprise could survive in a competitive international setting? All the fundamental management aspects are determined by the ministerium. So, it's very difficult to have a long term strategy. The state (government) should give to the (higher education) institutions room to grow, management autonomy, and performance evaluation." (Excerpt of an interview with Luis Campos e Cunha, economics professor at the New University Lisbon and former minister of finance of the Portuguese government, published by the monthly business magazine Exame, nº 302, June 2009, blogger's translation)
Higher education in the United States is coming to resemble any other kind of personal service industry 
