future of higher education
DESCRIPTION
A Glen Hiemstra futurist keynote for the Society of College and University Planning, March 2013. Highlights the need for universities to fundamental re-examine their core purposes.TRANSCRIPT
what is your image of the future?
three future questions…
What is Probable? What is Possible? What is Preferred?
If you don’t go far enough back in memory or far enough ahead in hope, your present will be impoverished Dr. Ed Lindaman
President, Whitworth College 1970’s
historic mission of higher education
• credentialing• furthering knowledge• sustaining meritocracy• arguing for the good life• self-perpetuation• a physical place for learning
�Do not limit your children to your own learning, for they were born into a new time.�
Ancient Proverb
• demographic dynamics• economic inequality • technology acceleration• climate change impacts
Higher education specific...challenges
• erosion of meritocracy• research under attack & buying
science• private good vs. common good• cost/benefit of university degree• learning and the gift economy• emerging relationship economy• internet and learning
children of the screen do not accept old limitations...
Based on: Gerd Leonhard
Median age of native-born Latinos is 18
Median age all Latinos is 27 vs. 42 for non-Hispanic whites in U.S.
67,000 U.S. Latinos turn 18 each month, (93% are citizens)
40% of U.S. population growth 2012-2030 will be Hispanic (77% of growth will be minorities)
There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.
Henry Ford
h.p://stateofworkingamerica.org/chart/swa-‐wages-‐figure-‐4n-‐college-‐wage-‐premium/
driving forces:income gap economics
• technology• global commerce• public policy• values shift
technology acceleration
global warming
Disappearing Arctic
Higher education specific...challenges
• erosion of meritocracy• research under attack & buying
science• private good vs. common good• cost/benefit of university degree• learning and the gift economy• emerging relationship economy• internet and learning
higher education its own investment... for the local community
• for every $1 invested in the California State University system, the system returns $4.41...
• universities bring jobs & revenues from economic activity and events in local communities...
• on top of all that, universities provide the talent pool for local businesses, which also attracts new businesses to the area.
must find new and better ways organize communities to enable advanced learning for millions.
knowledge value needs…..knowledge
the preferred future challengeTo save themselves Americas universities need to go back to the drawing board and reinvent themselves anew...among the questions to ask...
1. What does America need from us? What is the purpose of higher education now?
2. What have we been good at in the past? What are we doing that is of no use, what should we let go of?
3. What are the basic values we wish to promote? How do we best do that?
4. Whom do we serve...students, corporate funders and employers, government, our own careers?
what is your image of the future?
the future is not something that just happens to us
the future is something we do
thank you for your timefor more information
www.futurist.com
www.twitter.com/glenhiemstra
www.facebook/glenhiemstra
research and analysis assistance by Sara Robinson