Why Europe's Universities Need 'Stress Testing' Even More Than the Banking Sector

By Dirk Jan van den Berg. Since the 2008/09 financial crisis, the concept of 'stress testing' has assumed a much higher prominence in the business world. Right now, for instance, the European Banking Authority is supervising a new round of tests, with results to be announced this Autumn, to gauge resilience of banks to financial shocks.
Of course, stress tests are key to assessing the health of the financial system, and it is important that we do all we can to prevent a recurrence of the crisis. However, it is not just the banking sector, and related industries such as insurance, which should be subjected to similar testing.
The university system is perhaps even more important for determining Europe's economic future as the financial sector, yet the amount of resources devoted to the health and wellbeing of higher education pale into insignificance in comparison. This is a colossal error of judgement that, unless remedied fast, the continent will live to regret. More...