[Glice]

It's odd - they could measure tuition fees; they could measure the number of students putting money into the local economy; they could measure the books sales of the high number of very publishable philosophers there; they could measure the number of times Middlesex is advertised for free everytime it's mentioned in an article.

As Herr Rail says, it's not just a problem for philosophy, it's for the whole humanities. There's a very narrow perception of the benefits of university education. Bradders and I both have a degree in philosophy, and I think we'd both agree that it's not directly served us in the job market. However, I blagged my way into IT thanks to knowing Boolean logic; while there, I was known as a good peacemaker, thanks to analytic philosophy; I was known as a good and particular communicator, thanks to philosophy essays. The problem - and I suppose this runs deeper than just Universities - is that the merit of learning is measured only in terms of direct profit or explicit titles. I know a few people who are well out of their depth in the jobs they've got, thanks to their MBAs.

It's not that I object to 'profitability' being used as the prime marker of value in the economy; it's that that profitability is incredibly short-sighted.