The Future of Higher Education in America

 Today, a college diploma is no guarantee that graduates have  the  competencies that businesses need, including using emerging technologies, communicating, working in teams, and other necessary skills. So, it's fair to ask, "Do students really need a college degree"?

Brandeis University President, and nationally respected higher education leader and researcher, Arthur Levine has been at  the  forefront of  the  changing role of higher education.  Co-author of  THE   GREAT   UPHEAVAL , HIGHER EDUCATIONS PAST PRESENT AND UNCERTAIN FUTURE, Levine argues that in  the  next 20 years, consumers of higher education will determine what higher education will be, and that every institution will have to change.

Today,  the  United States is undergoing change of even greater magnitude and speed than it did during  the  Industrial Revolution as it shifts from a national, analog, industrial economy to a global, digital, knowledge economy. At  the  same time, public confidence in higher education has declined. Threatened by a demographic cliff in most states where fewer students will be graduating from high school over  the  next 20 years,  the  increased competition for students means that a larger number of higher education institutions will be closing or merging with other institutions. It is expected that as many as 20 to 25 percent of colleges, particularly liberal arts colleges and comprehensive regional colleges, will close in  the coming years.

Learn more about The Great Upheaval:

The  book reveals that five new realities, none of higher education's own making, will characterize  the coming transformation:

1. Institutional control of higher education will decrease, and  the  power of higher education consumers will increase. In a range of knowledge industries,  the  advent of  the  global, digital, knowledge economy multiplied  the  number of content providers and disseminators and gave consumers choice over what, where, when, and how of  the  content they consumed.  The  same will be true of higher education.  The  digital revolution will put more power in  the  hands of  the  learner who will have greater choice about all aspects of their own education.
2. With near universal access to digital devices and  the  Internet, students will seek from higher education  the  same things they are getting from  the  music, movie and newspaper industries. Given  the  choice, consumers of  the  three industries chose round- the -clock over fixed-time access, consumer- rather than producer-determined content, personalized over uniform content, and low prices over high. In  the  emerging higher education environment, students are placing a premium on convenience—anytime, anyplace accessibility; personalized education that fits their circumstances and unbundling, only purchasing what they need or want to buy at affordable prices. For instance, during  the  pandemic, while college enrollments were declining, enrollment in institutions with these attributes, such as Coursera, an online learning platform, saw  the  number of students they serve jump. In  the  United States and abroad, Coursera enrollments jumped from 53 to 78 million. That 25 million student increase is more than  the  entire enrollment in U.S. higher education.
3. New content producers and distributors will enter  the  higher education marketplace, driving up institutional competition and consumer choice and driving down prices. We are already seeing a proliferation of new postsecondary institutions, organizations and programs that have abandoned key elements of mainstream higher education. These emphasize digital technologies, reject time and place-based education, create low-cost degrees, adopt competency or outcome-based education, and award nontraditional credentials. Increasingly, libraries, museums, media companies and software makers have entered  the  marketplace, offering content, instruction and certification. Google offers 80 certificate programs and Microsoft has 77.  The  American Museum of Natural History has its own graduate school, which offers a Ph.D. in comparative biology, a Master of Arts degree in teaching, and short-term online courses that teachers can use for graduate study or professional development credit.  The  new providers are not only more accessible and convenient, offering a combination of competency- and course-based programs, they are also cheaper and more agile than traditional colleges and universities which will lead to more contraction and closings?
4. The  industrial era model of higher education focusing on time, process and teaching will be eclipsed by a knowledge econo