Higher Ed GPS: How Will We Get Where We Are Going?

If we look at business models in general we can divide them into two basic types:   not-for-profit (NFP), and for profit (FP).   NFP organizations in the U.S. are funded through federal dollars, state dollars, and private donations (similar models exist around the globe).   This model is subject to a variety of external economic and political influences.   It is not a closed system. FP organizations are funded through traditional business means—investors, profit, and reinvestment.   A product or service is provided in exchange for compensation, designed to make more money than spent.   Such organizations consist of units and functions designed to keep the business sustainable by achieving its goals, purpose, and plans. FP systems are thus more controlled in nature. As discussed in an earlier post, higher education has moved away from a basic for profit model to a not-for-profit structure composed of individual investments, supplemented by state and...

So let’s set some realistic expectations for new leaders.   They must be prepared for a world where education is not a viewed solely as a public good, but also as a commodity, driven by a market-based ideology.   The new leader must be prepared for a world of heavy regulation and competition.    This will be a world where students are customers, but the business is different.   It will be a world where, having democratized education, we now find that the current model may in fact be disenfranchising students as institutions struggle to compete and even to exist. Here’s the job description:   Must be able to blend business and academia into a model that looks and performs like a viable, sustainable business organization while supporting institutional and personal missions; can organize institutions to achieve the necessary functions of higher education; can align academics with this new function; can rethink the liberal arts in light of this function; c...

A difficult but unavoidable issue for current leaders is the necessity of acknowledging that they might be part of the problem. The current system has developed leaders who can be inflexible and monolithic as they deal with the shifting function of higher education. This should not be surprising, in light of the fact that today’s leaders come largely from traditional models.   They come from an era when books and professors were the repository and disseminators of knowledge.   Now Google, Wikipedia, and others will take over the ownership of knowledge and its distribution, unless higher education takes it back. Today’s leaders need to reboot their credibility as leaders and thus reinvigorate institutions and ultimately brand higher education as a productive sector in society.   This is done by demonstrating the relevance of leaders.   It will entail branding, marketing and differentiating leadership, and then bringing that branding to institutions and ultima...

A recent report from the Aspen Institute entitled “Renewal and Progress: Strengthening Higher Education in a Time of Rapid Change” provides a solid summary of the issues that frame the current leadership crisis in higher education.   The report rightly points out that tomorrow’s presidents will need to be a of a different cut from today’s.   They might have also pointed out that other senior positions will need to be rethought, but that is for another discussion.   The authors do a creditable job of laying out a number of the qualities that new leaders will need and the areas that will require focus.   They also provide a good perspective on many of the shifting societal issues that will affect what presidents will need to look like in the future. That said, I think there are some imbedded impediments to actualizing the agenda that the report lays out, despite the fact that it is a commendable one.   First, the elements of the report are steeped in history,...

Yogi Berra is quoted as having said,   “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”   That’s what this blog is all about.   It is a blend of observations, commentary, and opinion gained over forty years of experience in higher education that will provide perspectives on where higher education is today, where it is going, and how it will get to wherever it is that it is going.   A recent survey conducted by Washington-based think tank New America contends that Americans see value in higher education, but may not be happy with it. The Introduction to the report puts it succinctly: “Americans believe in the tremendous potential of higher education—but they also feel that higher education is falling short of that promise.   New America’s inaugural survey reveals a stark expectations gap between what higher education could-- and should—be and where higher education currently is.”   OK, we know where we are and we don’t li...