The Future of College: 9 Inevitable Changes
New technologies, rising prices, and a more globalize society are shaping how college and higher education program teach their students. Arthur E. Levine, president of Teachers College of Columbia University, has studied the current events in education and narrowed to nine mandatory changes that every university will have to do in order to survive.
1. Faculty diversity will mark the line for small private universities in the future.The need for global universities, capable of offering a major range of classes aboard will mark a great difference for the new international student body.
2. Levine also highlights 3 basic emerging types of universities; first, “brick universities”. Traditional building type university or residential institution; second, the “click universities”. This new type is a commercial virtual university like Unext.com; the last type are the “brick-click” universities that are able to offer both styles, residential institutions and virtual classes.
3 As student’s background increase the variety of needs that each individual will have is going to be more diverse. Each student will have to be able to set their own personalize agenda, been able to learn at work or during vacations.
4. The teaching method used today is set, write, study, exam. On the future student performance will be graded on the student’s achievement. Time will become the variable and learning the constant.
5. Research and service will be erase from universities’ agendas, and teaching will be the only focus.
6. Faculty member will be independent from the teaching institution. World class professor’s name will be way more important than the university they work for. This will force universities to find new way to attract students to their halls.
7. As more students get interested for higher education the value of a degree will decrease and be less valuable.
8. The student will be required to have an educational passport were all their student history. All As will lose importance and a national bureau to follow everyone’s achievements.
9. More and more scholarships will be available and the flow of money will go more towards the students than the institutions.
