Martin Van Der Werf – Page 2 – The Future of Higher Education

What Can Higher Ed Learn from Healthcare Reform?

January 8, 2013 Martin Van Der Werf

I am thinking of an industry that performs a vital public service with unlimited demand. But it is marked by cost increases that far outstrip inflation, extreme specialization, and a lack of coordination. Sounds familiar, right? But I am thinking of healthcare, not higher education. In many respects, reform of healthcare and higher education are proceeding on parallel tracks. Both are immense industries, with core products that are essential to well-being, heavily subsidized by the public, and entrapped by outdated…

Read More Read More

We Need More Truth Telling in Higher Education

November 8, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

A lot is being written about the future of higher education, but truth-telling about the current state of colleges and universities is still in short supply. So a book-length gathering of papers caught my attention — for the breathless way it skewered current practices. Here are some outtakes: Rather than embracing innovations that have swept over the rest of the economy, boosting productivity, lowering prices, and improving quality, most colleges and universities have chosen to batten down the hatches, raise…

Read More Read More

The Perpetual Half-Price Sale on College Tuition

October 4, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

The number of issues bedevilling colleges right now is staggering. But if we were to trace the issue where higher education lost the support of the public, it would be tuition. Think about all the conversations you have about college — don’t most of them begin with price? Who can afford college? Why has it gotten so expensive? How will I ever save enough to send my kids to college? “It’s outrageous these institutions have the audacity to charge so…

Read More Read More

Cost-cutting: Who Will Tell the Faculty?

August 27, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

A few weeks ago, at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, there were numerous presentations by universities about cutting costs, paring back administrative bloat, and how to plan communications strategies for assuring that everyone understands why cost-cutting is needed. “Is the faculty involved?” was a recurring question. In most cases, administrators dissembled, and said they were working their way up to bringing in the faculty. It is no surprise that administrators don’t want…

Read More Read More

When Will For-Profit Colleges Ever Shape Up?

July 23, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

The advance of MOOCs into mainstream higher education has a lot of people wondering if giving away content for free will be the death of traditional higher ed. But the increasing popularity of online courses got me thinking about another troubled part of higher education: for-profit universities, the players that popularized the online course in the first place. The for-profit universities have fought staggering odds to make important inroads against the higher ed establishment. The pioneer, the University of Phoenix,…

Read More Read More

Video Forecasts the End of Higher Education

July 10, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

“It is the best of times — it is the worst of times. In 2020, people have access to a breadth and depth of knowledge unimaginable in an earlier age. However, (colleges) as you know them have ceased to exist. Academia’s fortunes have waned. Twentieth century universities are an afterthought, a lonely remnant of a not-too-distant past.” So begins a video titled “Epic 2020” that has been getting some attention on the Web. I disagree pretty strongly with some of…

Read More Read More

Disruption is Inevitable: Five Ways to Prepare

May 29, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

Let’s say you are are a college president watching everything you know in the world of higher education changing. And you are convinced that disruptive innovation is about to overtake your institution. What are the five things you should be focusing on right now to make sure your institution is a survivor. 1. Communicate. This is not the time to retreat to your bunker. Share your thinking with trustees, your colleagues in the administration, faculty leaders, parents, donors and students….

Read More Read More

Faculty v. Administrators: Neither Side Can Win

April 12, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

After an extended Easter weekend spent intentionally away from the headlines and smartphones, it was interesting to come back to a lot of hand-wringing over the economic model of higher education. This is hardly new, but it was interesting to see administrators worrying about rising costs of faculty members and little associated hope for increased productivity. Faculty members, in turn, argue that the growth in the number of administrators and their associated pay packages, is the real cost-driver in higher…

Read More Read More

Small Colleges Need to Show They Understand Parents’ Economic Pain

March 30, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) has been keeping this running list of colleges that are reducing tuition, freezing it for one or more years, offering three-year degree programs, and starting other initiatives to keep the cost of college down. The document helpfully points out that average tuition and fees at private colleges, after adjustment for inflation, actually declined 4.1 percent from 2006-07 to 2011-12. When you factor in the ever-increasing tuition discount rate, the tuition students…

Read More Read More

Is a Campus a College when Everyone Studies Online?

March 21, 2012 Martin Van Der Werf

We’ve written a lot lately about aspects of colleges that will have to change over the next few years, like admissions, and technology, and teaching styles. We have talked about some of the economic theories that help explain why this is occurring. We have also talked about some of the forces upholding the old model of higher higher education that has been resistant to change, such as marketing and accreditation (and here). But what about the very core of your…

Read More Read More