the price of a (the, zero article) traditional higher education

Question

A quote from The Economist (Higher education: The attack of the MOOCs):

He thinks this will drive a dramatic reduction in the price of a traditional higher education, that will reduce the total revenues of existing providers by far more than the revenue gained by the start-ups.

Here, as I understand, the indefinite article helps to convey generic reference (= the price of a typical higher education course).

But generic reference may also be conveyed by:

1. THE + count noun

2. zero article + noncount (mass) noun

As I understand, the 1st option would be wrong here, because to get the generic meaning, we should use THE only with count singular nouns ("THE owl is a night bird").

He thinks this will drive a dramatic reduction in the price of the traditional higher education, that will reduce the total revenues of existing providers by far more than the revenue gained by the start-ups.

It will mean "the price that the Government (or the country's businesses and citizens combined) pay/s to keep up the country's higher education system", IMHO.

My question is: am I right in this assumption, and what would the meaning of "higher education" be if we use the zero article:

He thinks this will drive a dramatic reduction in the price of traditional higher education, that will reduce the total revenues of existing providers by far more than the revenue gained by the start-ups.

Would this also mean "the higher education system as a whole", not a single typical course?

Answer 1

The noun phrase traditional higher education can refer collectively to all such education, or to a single instance of it (as received by a single person, or offered by a single academic institution).

It's just the same as, for example, vintage brandy. This could be used a "generic" reference to the subclass of all brandy that was kept in the cask up until it was bottled (in which case it's a "non-count" noun, that doesn't normally take an article). Or it could refer to any level of "subset" (vintage brandy from a particular supplier, region, and/or year, for example, right down to a specific actual bottle, or glassful).

I'll illustrate usage with the brandy - partly because I like it more, but mainly because it's more likely to be used in a wider range of contexts, so it can be perfectly natural to say all of the following...

1: "I can't afford vintage brandy"
This always a "generic" reference (I can't afford any amount or any type of vintage brandy).

2: "I can't afford a vintage brandy"
Implicitly refers to some particular amount, type, etc., but not a specific instance of it.

3: "I can't afford the vintage brandy"
Normally some specific instance, but dialectally (Irish, for example), may be the same as (1) or (2).

4: "I can't afford my vintage brandy"
Either the brandy I have now, or more likely the brandy I used to have (but now sorely miss).

5: "I can't afford your vintage brandy"
Either the brandy you have (to drink or to sell), or colloquially/dialectally equivalent to (1) or (2).

That last point (using your as a "generic" reference) may seem strange to non-native speakers. Note that when it occurs in speech, your is always unstressed (it's a neutral vowel, often written as "yer").
It's more common in speech than writing, but here's a real-world written example...

"This is not your typical Spanish village" (despite the typography, your is definitely not stressed)
Where your means an example of what anyone (i.e. - someone like you) might consider to be a...