Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Is it possible that at some point in the future traditional universities will begin to disappear? Have the tools for their demise been put in place – the Internet, personal computers, iPads and other tablet PCs, videoconferencing apps, online publishing and online libraries of very affordable and in many cases, free content. What else needs to happen? Visionary entrepreneurs perhaps backed by VC money enticing some of the best professorial talent to leave their current institutions for more lucrative income and profit participation in new online university ventures?
What are parents and students (and in some cases taxpayers) paying for today beyond the acquisition of a diploma? Administrative overhead? Athletic programs? Housing? Maintenance of buildings? Gardeners? Security? Contraception? Liability insurance? Legal counsel? Bail?
What of accreditation? If an online university boasted a more impressive faculty and curricula than say Stanford, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Berkeley, Harvard, then how important would traditional accreditation be? Is it possible that at some point a diploma from an online institution may even have more clout than an ivy-covered brick and mortar one?
Yes, all of the important socializing aspects of university life may disappear. Many students, of course, make lifelong friends on campus or find their spouses who may or may not be lifelong mates. University towns have thrived around the traditional university, to serve the needs of faculty, students and staff. So, if the traditional university disappears then by extension, university towns might disappear as well. On a positive note, the more radical hybrid of social/anti-social activities – like protests and riots either motivated by winning or losing a sports title or vandalizing school property because capitalism is of course, evil and unfair would also disappear…at least if the university campus is no longer used as an academic institution.
The extinction of the traditional university, if it occurs, may be a sad chapter in the long history of civilization since most would argue that the university shares a substantial portion of the credit for making us civilized in the first place.
But consider also that the easy availability of college coursework taught by the best professors in the world to those living in less affluent parts of the world who might never haven been able to afford to attend or be qualified for a traditional university may eventually result in another renaissance, enlightenment or technological revolution giving them the opportunity to learn and then create or do amazing things.
So, the question is, will technology, new developments on the horizon and the opportunity to be taught by the best professors in the world make the demise of the traditional university inevitable?
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Jul '11
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Certifications, my friend, certifications.
Jul '11
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
The "while" has arrived. I couldn't think of a more unqualified bunch of loads to pass a law, much less a law that would require some kind of technical competency to understand. For some people, "chemicals" is a word that frightens, even though their entire corpus is made up of "chemicals", and it's an easy sell to a progressive political culture that utilizing natural resources to provide energy is inherently bad.
Laughable. The people who don't want these kinds of things are the same people who couldn't start a fire on their own unless they had a lighter, starter fluid, a grill, briquettes, and a boutique salmon to throw on top of it - but cheap energy? Nah! We don't need that!
http://vtdigger.org/2012/05/04/vermont-first-state-in-nation-to-ban-fracking-for-oil-and-gas/
Jun '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Thanks, Chris, for ruining my day.
But, of course, Vermont is the most retrograde state in the union. Luddites galore there.
Nov '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Great post! The University where I have taught as an Adjuct for 20 years, is not an Ivy and has few graduate programs. With 3500 or so full time students, its 2013 budget is $220Million. Faculty salaries make up less than 1/3 of that amount. That is a lot of overhead.
That area of the University where I teach, with the local part-time students, we have reversed course and eliminated most online programs in favor of tougher standards and more streamlined and focused subject areas taught in the classroom. In the past decade we were giving Un iversity degrees to students who could not write, take notes or present coherently. Much of this was laid out to a lack of "touch" between student and instructor. We decided not to compete with for-profits anymore but will concentrate on providing quality. The student flow is expected to drop in half. So be it. Also, and I think this is a trend, we are seeing more students who have rejected being involved in the mass electronic spectrum: No internet, no Facebook, no e-mail, no Twitter. This puts quite a roadblock to online classes.
Oct '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
I would put it the other way around: there will be a return to the Traditional university model (a small number of institutions catering to the scions of the wealthy and a few exceptional talents), and the 20th century experiment of grouping all post-secondary teaching and research activities in things called a 'University' will end in well-deserved ignominy.
Jun '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Interesting....
I hope you are right, genferei. We need to dismantle the present system but there will always be a need to continue with higher learning in the classical teacher-student relationship. This is the way great societies proceed in a stable fashion.
Direct interfacing with a great teacher is really a fantastic experience -- time tested and it results in the best leaders. This is because the process does more than teach, it also builds confidence in the student, it builds character in the student and it (should) build the appreciation for wisdom and compassion in the student.
Dec '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Larry Koler
Direct interfacing with a great teacher is really a fantastic experience -- time tested and it results in the best leaders. This is because the process does more than teach, it also builds confidence in the student, it builds character in the student and it (should) build the appreciation for wisdom andcompassion in the student. · 37 minutes ago
Larry, this has absolutely nothing to do with modern education. It's all about a piece of paper to hang on the wall, some tribal bragging rights, and social connections. If our society valued leadership and character then our education system would not be what it is. The whole thing has turned into a participation trophy give away.
Jun '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Prawn, I think we are all in agreement with you -- on the present state. But, I set forth the ideal, as prompted by genferei.
Dec '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Working with the ideal, how much of the population really needs a university education? How can we get to a realistic expectation concerning education when everyone is equal (in the liberal sense?) Someone still has to drive the honey bucket truck.
Oct '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
This sounds true to me, but I don't think the 'teacher' need be a university teacher. I'm sure one can become a wise and compassionate person because e.g. the master carpenter to whom one is apprenticed is a great teacher.
(I might even go further and suggest that the average level of wisdom and compassion in any university at any time in history is below the average in the population at large...)
Aug '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Well, "will universities survive in their current form," is a loaded question. The easy answer is "no", but that's not terribly ground-breaking news since universities have never survived "in their current form".
After all, look at Oxford, or Cambridge, or Harvard, or Yale today and compare them to 25 years ago, or 100 years ago, or 200 years ago. The schools are hardly recognizable in many ways.
In the very old days, students started at Oxford or Cambridge before they had even hit puberty.
The Ivy League was about turning rich boys into rich men, not about turning bright high schoolers into brilliant scholars.
So, of course universities will change. That's not even a question worth asking.
The real question is, "how will universities change?"
(My predictions in the next post...)
Aug '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
1) Good Physical Universities Will Not Disappear
Many fields of study and fields of research require physical space and physical equipment.
You couldn't really run elite programs in nuclear physics, or chemical engineering, or organic chemistry, or computer science, etc, without well-stocked laboratories and workshops.
You couldn't really run elite medical/dental programs without well-equipped facilities.
You couldn't really run a elite drama program without a theatre or rehearsal space.
You couldn't really run an elite film/media production program without studios, cameras, and post-production facilities.
Much of a good post-secondary education comes from doing things, in physical spaces, with other people.
Yes, you can study Public Relations by correspondence, but wouldn't it be better to do student work in a PR lab with other students for model clients (or even real clients)?
2) Lousy Physical Universities Will Not Disappear
The special interests that depend on them for employment won't allow it.
3) On-Line Universities Will Proliferate
Somebody has to fill the demand for students who want a degree in a field that doesn't require physical space, but who also don't want to attend a lousy university.
Jan '12
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
This is one third of the issue about how will the three great labor intensive industries of education, health and government adapt to the changing world.
Sticking to the task of looking at the extinction of universities I would say it will not happen. But they will change. My expectation is there will be a convergence of many technologies to provide a changing, more enriching, and more affordable experience.
Lectures: I expect providers of a series of on-line lectures to emerge around which a course can be constructed.
Tutorials: I expect tutorials to become more one on one. This will be achieved by using Skype type technologies and not necessarily using in house professors.
Fraternizing: Universities will organize week long meets of students to undertake academic and team building activities.
Networking: The concept of Skype will mean that students and faculty can continue to network long after the degree is completed.
Ricochet: This website will start the trend by organizing learning experiences along the lines of the above utilizing their network of Ricocheters to get things moving.
An open learning experience is provided in the UK
Aug '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
My degree is in Communications Studies from a very non-prestigious school, which seems like the kind of degree one could do online.
However, if I had done my degree online:
( I love my degree. A good Comm Studies program, with lots of practical work, is very underrated.)
Dec '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
My degree as well - except I'd beg to differ on it being the kind of degree one could do online. Communication at its bedrock is 2 or more people conversing. As in face to face. Nonverbals included.
Jun '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Misthiocracy, et. al.,
With the proliferation of digital video cameras and digital editing software and a growing number of animators well versed in CGI when effects or backgrounds are required, it would seem to me that a lot of production and post-production could still be handled offline and in a student's home or even someone's garage without a studio facility. Keep in mind that "online" is not an all-or-nothing proposition and that any predominantly online university can still require studio time, face-to-face meetings instructors and with fellow students, field trips, etc. but without the massive overhead of a large institution and physical campus. This sort of hybrid model could also be applied to any discipline that requires lab time or working with instructors and or fellow students. The name of the game is to eliminate as much of the massive costs of maintaining and sustaining the physical plant of the university (and all the attendant salaries and benefits) and become more nimble and cost-effective.
And just like small Ricochet communities that get together there is nothing that precludes students in the same geographic area to do the same.
Dec '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
As the dad of a freshly minted graduate, I'm of two minds. I am quite proud of his accomplishment (double major, done in 4 years) but rather sanguine about the overall investment. A college degree just doesn't have the value that it had a generation ago. Witness the # of those who go straight to grad school. As for the long-term prognosis for Higher Ed., they are doomed. In general, they are typically the worst of both worlds. They are a profit-generating business that attempts to operate as if it is not a profit-making business. They insulate themselves from economic reality (donors vs. investors,. government loans, etc.) and delude themselves that it's about the "students" or "research" or "society" instead of what it really is, and that is "profit", headlines, and more donations. The market will vote with their feet. I submit it has already begun in the heartland, where parents, often down-to earth & imbued with common-sense, will accelerate the trend to other alternatives (online, trades, no college at all - just go start a business. I'll help!), and the schools on the coasts will slowly shrink, becoming ever more "exclusive" and isolated from any form of reality. (cont.)
Aug '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
I agree and the lightbulb went off as I was reading the Story of Zachary, the fatherless son of Julia ( Obama composite campaign tool). Thanks to Nicole Gelinas and the peerless City Journal.
It sketched how this young man found uncredentialed education perfectly acceptable to employers of the future who recognized that the official degrees were no longer worth much.
Okay, so what do I tell my high school age daughter ? Yes,honey I realize that you want to go to university and party with your friends while getting a predictably worthless degree. But I want you to meet some smart young man, who by then will be somewhere working as he gets his degree from Ricochet Independent Study Resources,Inc.
Edited on May 7, 2012 at 6:54pmDec '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
contThen they'll die as they no longer have any connection to the formerly "brain-dead" parents who slavishly prepared their kids for college without thinking what return they should expect to receive. I see this as inevitable and appropriate. It may well be Justice as too many lives have been destroyed at the feet of "professors" who seek to do nothing but destroy the values hard working parents have instilled in their kids. Just my opinion, though.
Dec '10
Re: Are Traditional Universities Facing Extinction?
Ah! You beat me to it.
Fake John Galt: In honor of this topic I bring you a glimpse of the future.
http://www.khanacademy.org/ · May 6 at 12:15am