Comments on: Higher Ed: Next Bloated Industry to Go?

By: RF

RF — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:40:16 +0000

Peter Drucker famously said, the research university would not survive the transition to knowledge-based capitalism. Get ready not just for concentration but for mass disintermediation.

Our system of “education” was built for Fordism and is Fordist through and through.

The entire thing is “broken” to use Bill Gate’s phrase, though extending its intent.

The creative economy will require a leap in human development that goes far beyond what mass public education and the modern research university did under Fordism. This will be wholesale reinvention toward flexible, life-long human development, beginning in early childhood and continuing through life.

My hunch is that schools as we know them will cease to exist in a generation or two. Universities will be less real estate, buildings and formal classes and learning or creativity-enhancement will take place through immersion.

Our school based system was good for a century or two, but human beings have always learned by doing and engaging. Our next system will support and enhance that natural process.

And the place or places that get their first, like the US did with mass public education, will enjoy a massive first-mover competitive advantage.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:53:58 +0000

A society that does not invest in its future is one that is in decay.

By: David J. Miller

David J. Miller — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:23:50 +0000

Many great points from all. Daniel’s last point and the ‘cultural/policy’ ideal that all attend college is misguided.

Also, many creative class jobs from software engineer to graphic designer do not necessarily require traditional BAs. at the same time, there is greater demand for advanced degrees and therefore BAs remain a requirement for many..

By: Daniel Carins

Daniel Carins — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:00:50 +0000

Further to Zoe’s point, the ever-diminishing returns from an undergraduate degree will surely reach equilibrium where the rewards do not justify the outlay, which will mean would-be graduates instead become skilled tradespeople, artisans, or even entrepreneurs willing to take some risks and start their own businesses.

Given there’ll be more psychology, law and history graduates, there will be fewer plumbers and electricians and more and more households needing their services: meaning that it will soon be the brainy thing to do to not go to university, and university degrees will become badges of caring so much about class, privilege and symbols of success that you’re even willing to lose money and earn less.

Damn, that’s already the case…

By: Mike L

Mike L — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:14:34 +0000

Quote: “if someone is going to attend … online …”
Yes, the bricks-and-mortar-folks are thinking “if”, but the online-folks are thinking “now”.
My former Bricks U. closed our department because of costs. So I teach online for someone else. Motivated, diligent students! Love it! Bricks U. did me a great favor …

By: Zoe B

Zoe B — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:10:41 +0000

One part of the impending ‘market adjustment’ for undergraduate education is the growing discrepancy between the amount of debt students acquire before they graduate and the yearly income they can achieve afterward. This debt will prevent a lot of graduates from becoming homeowners, and probably also will cause them to delay childbearing. We may see a decrease in the number or percentage of college graduates among the general population. Moreover, for decades there has been a policy (and a trend) for nurses and police to acquire 4-year undergraduate education (versus hospital-based nurse training programs and policy academies). This trend may reverse, if the cost of education is not rewarded in the paycheck.

By: Michael Wells

Michael Wells — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:35:38 +0000

“Like so many of our great industries and social sectors, higher education has grown huge, bureaucratic, and in many cases bloated.”

I think this is key to many of the core problems. It can take months to get the simplest decisions made, or forms approved. Inter-department rivalries, rather than the merits of an issue, drive many basic decisions.

Many of the organizational structures in colleges go back to the Renaissance. Not a bad time for ideas, but also not a good model for business. Things like tenure and faculty senates have their merits, but haven’t been updated in generations.

The colleges take it out on faculty and students, in the process alienating their workers and customers. I have a son in law with a liberal arts Ph.d. who’s only offered adjunct teaching jobs as colleges try to cut costs. I sat in on faculty union-administration negotiations last summer and the University was astonishingly non-responsive.

Finally, like so many institutions, universities have been victims of the culture wars of the late 20th century. Hopefully this distraction can be set aside and real issues addressed.