The Future of Higher Education

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

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…

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

The Future of Social Media in Higher Education – Part 1

March 27, 2012 Grant Sabatier

This post is the first post in a three part series on the future of social media in higher education. These posts will be released over the next few weeks. I spend a lot of time thinking about where social media is headed and also, what potential it has to continue to revolutionize the way we learn, communicate, and experience life. In fact I have been thinking about this for a long time and now it is part of my…

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

The Future Graduate School

March 15, 2012 collegeof2020

Below is the presentation we gave recently at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools on “The Graduate School of the Future”. There is some good data, as well as insights applicable to graduate schools as well as higher education generally. College of 2020: The Future Graduate School Tweet

The Higher Education Marketing Crisis

February 18, 2012 Grant Sabatier

At colleges and universities across the country, marketing departments are failing to differentiate their institutions in an increasingly complex and competitive higher education market. There has never been a more critical time in higher education to stand out – the economic pressures are more stark and the race to get the best students, faculty, and resources has become more and more competitive. Branding continues to be a very hot topic in higher education, as many institutions struggle to find the…

Read More Read More