Higher education is living in interesting times, no matter where you stand.

Two accounts from Australia, one from an academic and the other from a consulting firm, provide a clearer view of the future of higher education than is possible when looking through an exclusively American lens. Continue reading →

It is hard to find anyone who thinks his or her own undergraduate campus will cease to be.  It is as if these places will go on forever.

At a recent SCUP conference I asked attendees to tell me why their campus would or would not exist in 2040.  One said their campus would morph into a “multi-purpose innovation/ business/research park”.  All the rest said their campus would survive – at least until 2040.  The reasons fell into four categories:  too big to fail, enough demand, adaptable enough and unique mission.  Can this be right?

Terry Brown of the University of Wisconsin System, knows that higher education is “…faced with an existential choice:  adapt or die.”  Dr. Brown recommends slow, deliberate, incremental transformation and without compromising core values.

I began writing about the physical dimensions of this choice 22 posts ago.  Year-end is a good time to reflect on the major themes that have emerged. Continue reading →