The Evolution of Higher Education
Wrapping up Season 6 of Future U.
We’ll get to higher ed, but first, a word on K–12 schools…
Is your child not being engaged in school? Are you a teacher struggling to get students to show up and work hard? You don’t have to settle.
As June wound down, the Supreme Court riled up higher education with two decisions impacting colleges and universities. Whatever your views on affirmative action, the reality is that the Supreme Court’s decision impacts somewhere between 3% and 10% of students, a fraction of those who enroll in college. And whatever your views on the wisdom of student loan repayment, the reality is that the case doesn’t touch higher education’s bigger problem: its addiction to spending.
I’ll send out more that I’ve written on the latter topic soon, but in the meantime, Jeff Selingo and I wrapped up season 6 of Future U. with a set of podcasts focused on a range of questions pertinent to the future of higher education. And cost was the topic that rose to the top for me in our Future U. Final Report, in which Jeff and I reflected on some of the big themes from the past year and made predictions for the upcoming year.
My favorite episodes from the year were those that tackled the question of cost in higher education because higher education spending is at the root of a lot of the conversations around debt that we have, I said. “And fundamentally, I think the high cost of college is why we have so many parents and students rethinking whether to go to college right now. Cost has impacted the value proposition that parents and students expect from a college education. I think the fact that people say, ‘Hey, we go to college to get a job,’ … it's because they need to see that ROI in a way that they didn't a decade, two decades ago.”
Check out the full episode here.
Whither the Liberal Arts?
Before we recorded our final report, we were live at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia for our latest stop on our Future U. Campus Tour sponsored by Dell Technologies and Google ChromeOS. Marymount found itself at the center of a storm on the future of the liberal arts thanks to this New York Times oped in April, “Colleges Should Be More Than Just Vocational Schools.”
The president of Marymount, Irma Becerra, fired back on our podcast. One big takeaway for me is the importance of not conflating classes in certain majors as being equivalent to “the liberal arts.” Marymount is finding that it can embed much of what the liberal arts does in majors and classes focused on helping students get jobs when they graduate. At a time when college costs have spiraled upward and many colleges are struggling financially, moving beyond the rigid, academic departmental model that Harvard has popularized could help a lot of schools. Listen to the episode here.
Gatekeepers and Consolidation in Higher Ed
The Chronicle for Higher Education issued a special report on accreditation. They did a large survey to collect thoughts on the role accreditation plays from those in higher education—and then I offered some thoughts in response. Big headlines?
Most surveyed think accreditors do a good job of ensuring academic outcomes. I couldn’t disagree more based on what the outcomes-based data suggest. That said, it wasn’t all bad news for the accreditors in my view. I said the accreditors deserve some credit for helping institutions pivot quickly to use online learning during the pandemic. They didn’t just grant permission, they also helped connect institutions to others with more familiarity in online to support them in their transition.
Second, Inside Higher Ed wrote a story about a debate playing out in Wisconsin over the possibility of merging a two-year state institution with a two-year technical college. The debate comes on the heels of what essentially was a merging of the community college system in Wisconsin with the four-year system a few years back.
The kicker for me? Enrollment at the local branch campus for the two-year state institution has dropped from 1,100 to 300! Governor Tony Evers vetoed the proposal to merge the institutions. Something tells me this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this story.
Two More Before You Go
Curious about how much innovation is happening in Japan’s education system? I offered some thoughts here in an interview with Japanese journalist Misako Hida for the President Online.
And I appeared in a new podcast here to talk about the future of K–12 education amidst the growth of artificial intelligence and thought leadership more generally.
As always, thanks for reading, writing, and listening.