The Market for Higher Education Services in the Context of the Theory of Merit Goods

The aim of the article is to determine features of the market for higher education services under modern conditions of globalization in the context of the theory of merit goods. In view of a holistic vision of education as a sphere of economic development, it is proved that the educational service of a higher education institution is a process and result at the same time; there disclosed a complex nature of the educational product of a higher education establishment represented by educational programs and technologies, formalized and implicit knowledge, physical and mental components of organization of the educational and scientific process. Services in the sphere of higher education have both features inherent in the majority of services in general and specific properties, the most important of which is a complementary nature of individual and social usefulness of their production and consumption, which allows to define them as merit goods. The state tutelage over the market for educational services is substantiated by the lag of demand for such services behind long-term interests of society because individual consumers are willing to buy merit goods at a price that is significantly lower than the total expenditure on training specialists. The merit market for national higher education services is characterized by disequilibrium caused by systemic and local institutional traps, the smoothing of which requires not only a competitive state educational policy but also balanced marketing policy of educational institutions that becomes possible under conditions of real autonomy of higher education institutions.