A survey was conducted recently by Inside Higher Ed which found that the majority of college business officials agree higher education is in financial crisis, painting a very bleak outlook for the next 10 years. You can read the details in full here.
John Mason, principal of Australian Correspondence Schools (ACS) and longtime partner of Warnborough College’s, had this to say in response:
“As all so often, they see the problems but fail to see the causes clearly, let alone see the solutions.
They say causes are ‘changes to industry, political spending ideology and new trends in workforce development’. So, they argue that ‘Colleges must be more deliberate in making degree programs synonymous with, or replacements for industrial credentials.’
WRONG!
Yes we have change; but they fail to say it isn’t finite change, it is infinite – in other words, change is constant. Their ‘solution’ is still focused on the product of education being a credential or qualification.
AGAIN, WRONG!
The product of education is enlightenment, awareness, increased knowledge, and if it is a good education, it kick starts a process that continues way beyond completion of the course (for a graduate’s entire life).
THE FACTS ARE SIMPLE
The rate of change today makes it (in many, if not most, cases) impossible to fashion courses that teach highly-focused and specific skills that are needed for specific jobs. You just can’t teach someone precise tasks for a precise role any more.
In the past, certain tasks matched certain roles (jobs); and for the working life of the graduate, there was minimal change between the job, the tasks it involved and the way those tasks were best done. You can no longer train a person to be competent to do something a certain way and leave them to find success.
THE SOLUTION IS SIMPLE
- Stop focusing on selling the qualification.
- Start emphasising the importance of awareness and understanding; and the way properly guided learning experiences can facilitate that (and in doing so, benefit the graduate).
- Teach students how to understand a discipline and industry; raise their awareness, stimulate their motivation and create an inherent capacity to adapt and evolve in their field of endevour, seeking and acting on opportunities as they emerge.
Blunt, but we love it! 🙂
