The Future of Higher Education

After reading the posts below, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it seems that older adult learners prefer liberal arts education, to fulfil their aspirations. On the other hand, some younger adult learners prefer to take up courses like business/ commerce or vocational education and training to prepare for their future “career”, or for building competencies for their existing career, in face of rising costs of higher education that has become a burden to them and their family.

1. Is this a trend or just part of the pendulum swing, or a result of the economic crisis/tsunami?
2.  Will technology lower the cost of delivery of “quality education”?
3. What is the future of higher educational institution?

Would a forum discussion/Elluminate/UStrem/Facebook chat help in unfolding some of the issues and sharing feasible solutions, using a network approach. I think experts ideas such as those shown below are great, however, would community responses add further values to such debates or discussion?  And would we like to start from here?

Here are some extracts for reflection:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0811.carey.html

By Kevin Carey

If colleges use productivity gains from technology to restrain prices, they’ll continue to thrive in a world that values their product more than ever.

Fed up with unaccountable colleges and uncontrollable prices, the public will gradually withdraw from its historic commitment to higher education, weakening institutions that are vital for the nation’s competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Students, meanwhile, will likely turn in increasing numbers to the for-profit universities that are aggressively moving into the market by offering convenient, no-frills degree programs over the Web.

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2008/12/by_donald_downs_the_idea.html

 By Donald Downs

The idea of “bubble” has been on everyone’s mind since the escalating housing and economic crisis first erupted in July 2007. Throughout these turbulent times, one institution appeared to be coasting along above the fray: Higher Education.

Obviously higher education will (and should) survive. But there is no reason to think that higher ed will be immune to the shakeouts and reorganizations that have affected so many other institutions in this age of globalization.

And perhaps fewer young adults will attend college. This is not necessarily a bad thing, for the growing gap between aspiration and reality, and between cost and benefit is not a healthy phenomenon. Millions of young adults might be better off attending schools or apprentice programs that train them to perform such important and responsible jobs as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and mechanics.

Meanwhile, liberal arts programs for older students might flourish, attracting individuals who have finally discovered the motivation to learn and expand their intellectual horizons that they lacked in their earlier years. To borrow from Shaw, who famously lamented that youth is wasted on the young, liberal education is often wasted on young adults, many of whom are prone to be impatient of and unreceptive to the wonderful intellectual benefits that liberal education can bestow.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24686593-25192,00.html

“Education is a global currency” By Rupert Murdoch

For most of us, the best path to success is through an education that will allow us to fulfil our potential. That begins by setting high expectations, adhering to real standards and ensuring that when you do leave school, you leave with the tools that will help you get ahead in life.

Another way of putting it is this: it’s not that the poor are getting poorer. It’s that the economic rewards to the skilled are making them much richer. This is clearly understood by the leaders of developing countries. But it seems beyond the comprehension of much of the developed world.

That is one reason I have two key criteria for education programs that News Corporation supports: schools must be focused on achievement and they cannot make excuses for why some students are supposedly poor scholars.

Comments?