On college campuses, technology is moving fast — from education-portal.com
In this year’s Almanac of Higher Education, The Chronicle explores the rapidly expanding use of technology on college campuses by both students and institutions. They found that while many institutions are increasing their licensing of technological research to boost their bottom lines, the majority of public universities are cutting academic computing budgets. Meanwhile, students are spending more and more time online.
From Spring 2010
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From DSC:
Most certainly, not everything that Thomas Frey says will take place…but I’ll bet you he’s right on a number of accounts. Whether he’s right or not, the potential scenarios he brings up ought to give us pause to reflect on ways to respond to these situations…on ways to spot and take advantage of the various opportunities that arise (which will only happen to those organizations who are alert and looking for them).
For colleges in some states, financial relief is far off — from The Chronicle by Goldie Blumenstyk
Even when the economy begins to recover and employment picks up, public colleges shouldn’t expect much immediate relief from their states, warns a report this month from Moody’s Investors Service. Some states will very likely recover much more slowly than others. In more than half of the states, recovery is not projected to kick in until at least 2013, 2014, or later. And even then, the report notes, states will still face pressures for spending on public-employee pensions, health care, primary education, and other services.
Most public colleges face budget cut threats in 2011 — from usnews.com (via Academic Impressions) by Kim Clark
Map shows which state university systems are more likely to suffer budget cuts.
Davenport University offers 25 percent off tuition for the unemployed — from mlive.com
Davenport University is helping the unemployed prepare for new careers by offering them a 25 percent reduction in tuition, the school announced today.
“Current economic environments across the state of Michigan have created challenges for many,” said Larry Polselli, Ed.D., executive vice president for enrollment and student development. “With 14 campuses across the state and programs tied to today’s jobs, Davenport University is uniquely positioned to help students by extending this tuition discount when people need it most.”
From DSC:
Kudos to DU for their creative, innovative thinking here.
Liberal arts campuses in 2015: five visions — Bryan Alexander
Colleges not training students for careers that are growing — from ASTD
(From USA Today) WASHINGTON — The United States economy is in serious danger from a growing mismatch between the skills that will be needed for jobs being created and the educational backgrounds (or lack thereof) of would-be workers. That is the conclusion of a mammoth analysis of jobs data being released today by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
Colleges may like much of the rhetoric surrounding the report, which will be released officially today at an event scheduled to feature representatives of the Obama administration and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The clear implication of the report is that the United States needs to spend much more on higher education — and in particular on the educations of those who are not on the fast track to earning degrees at elite institutions. But the lead author of the report said in an interview that the report should also shake up colleges — and challenge most of them to be much more career-oriented than they have been and to overhaul the way they educate students, to much more closely align the curriculum with specific jobs.
The colleges that most students attend “need to streamline their programs, so they emphasize employability,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center.
From DSC:
Regarding the highlighted sentence immediately above….when it costs a significant amount of money — per student — to get them through college, can todays’ students afford to look at their college investments in any other way?
Really, come on…if things don’t change, can we expect our students to pursue a love of learning for learning’s sake? Or will the ever-growing debt on their backs continue to influence how they view their learning experience? Their expectations? The classes that they take and the programs that they pursue?
It’s one thing to graduate in 1970 with a $1,000 on your back…it’s another, to graduate in 2010 with $65,000 on your back.
The coming melt-down in higher education (as seen by a marketer) — by Seth Godin
For 400 years, higher education in the US has been on a roll. From Harvard asking Galileo to be a guest professor in the 1600s to millions tuning in to watch a team of unpaid athletes play another team of unpaid athletes in some college sporting event, the amount of time and money and prestige in the college world has been climbing.
I’m afraid that’s about to crash and burn. Here’s how I’m looking at it…
From DSC:
Seth’s perspectives on this are similar to what I’ve been saying — and warning would happen — for years now.
My take on the future of higher education is that someone will get it right and will be able to offer team-created and delivered content 24 x 7 x 365 that is mind-blowing by today’s standards and will be able to package and deliver that content and learning experience at discounts of 50%+ off of today’s prices. Yeah, yeah, yeah I hear ya say. Right Daniel…I’ve heard it all before.. your talk about disruption…about technology, etc. etc. etc.
You might have heard it, but you haven’t seen it in higher ed……....yet! My take on this is that you will see this happen. Massive change. The great commoditization of higher education as we know it today. The bubble is about to burst.
After all, the same publishers are selling the same textbooks to many institutions of higher education. In fact, I’m surprised that some publisher hasn’t yet taken a right turn and started offering degrees.They have access to subject matter experts (SME’s), teams of talented instructional designers, programmers, project managers, interface designers, legal/copyright experts, etc. What they lack is accreditation.
More and more I think societies will become increasingly interested in what you can DO and not where you attended school. Sure, there will still be those companies who want to hire only from ____ , ____, or _____; but that type of hiring perspective may not hold up if that organization is being outperformed by others. Also, who knows if corporations are even going to be around in 20 years. It’s turning into a situation where everyone is their own brand, their own company. Project teams come together, do the project, and then disband.
If students are paying a premium today, they should be paying that premium to go to an institution of higher education that:
The thing all of us in higher ed need to be on guard about and the question we need to constantly be asking ourselves is, “How do we keep from becoming a commodity? What value do we bring to the table? Why should someone pay X when they are about to be able to pay 0.25 X elsewhere?”
Morgan Stanley’s findings — as found within their Internet Trends presentation — raise some important questions such as:
