Cultural Shift – The Future of Higher Education

A Summer Full of Optimistic Ideas for Higher Ed

September 22, 2014 Martin Van Der Werf

Sometimes I feel like we are the voice of gloom and doom in higher education. We don’t mean to be. Colleges and universities will survive — they are the gateway to a better, more productive life for almost everyone. But they will evolve — the present business model is broken. So where are the new ideas to make colleges better? Attending a number of recent higher education conferences, I heard a lot of optimistic approaches to higher education — or…

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The Mismatch between Academic Training and Student Need: A College of 2020 Poll

August 23, 2013 Martin Van Der Werf

Administrators are looking for different qualities and experiences in new faculty members. But the results of a recent survey show how painfully slow change can be in higher education. For example, at a time when outsiders might expect colleges to be looking for a more flexible workforce, colleges are doing the opposite. While 37 percent of chief academic officers now say that at least 60 percent of their faculty is tenured, 46 percent say at least 60 percent of their…

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Can Big Data Save Higher Education?

February 13, 2013 Grant Sabatier

I warn you that this is a bit of a rallying cry. A wake up and start thinking creatively cry. A, you better start listening or you will be crying type of rallying cry. We are living in the age of data, where our movements are tracked, aggregated into large data sets, and analyzed to build predictive models about how people like “us” behave, engage, and ultimately purchase. I can say quite confidently that in Higher Education – a world…

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When Colleges Close…

February 11, 2013 Martin Van Der Werf

The declining financial health of higher education has gotten me thinking about some of the hardest stories I wrote in my six years as a reporter and editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education: articles about colleges that went over the financial brink and closed. Visiting college campuses that were set to close was like visiting a terminally-ill patient who has not yet died. Everyone is moving stone-faced ahead with what needs to get done — assuring that students can…

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The Rise of the Machine — The Future of Higher Ed?

January 25, 2013 Martin Van Der Werf

We spend a lot of time imagining what the college of the future will look like and how it will respond to the needs of students. Two recent pieces helped fill in some aspects of the higher education picture I had not yet contemplated. Both are well worth your time. And a third article is vital reading for those in the middle of this meltdown: the faculty. “The future looks like this: Access to college-level education will be free for…

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A Vision of The College of 2020

January 12, 2013 Grant Sabatier

At the College of 2020 we spend a lot time blogging about what the future of higher education will look like – now I want to try to help you envision one potential view of the it. This is 2020 – while only 8 years from now, I believe the higher education landscape will look drastically different – primarily because of online content and mobile devices. I believe that a majority of higher education students will take at least 80%…

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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…

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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…

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The Industrialization of Education: Guest Post by Bill Sams

October 30, 2012 collegeof2020

(This post is by Bill Sams, a Commissioner on the eTech Ohio Commission and an Executive in Residence at Ohio University. Bill has written and spoken on the transformation of education for several years and recently has produced two videos on the subject: EPIC 2020 and 2012, The Tipping Point.) Certainly in the United States a case can be made that the traditional education system at both the public school and higher education levels is a failure. With the United…

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The Faces of Higher Education: Adult Student

April 17, 2012 Grant Sabatier

This is the second post in an occasional series on the Faces of Higher Education. These are the stories of students, faculty, and administrators within the United States Higher Education system. Each person will be presented through interviews, profiles, or stories. So often when thinking about higher education we look at statistics, trends, and institutions, but rarely do we look at the people. The faces and stories within higher education often highlight the issues better than any chart or data…

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