Important Challenges, Part 1

Welcome to the new year!  Last week, I was asked to comment on important challenges in higher education.  Here are my thoughts…

Being responsive to student/community needs in terms of knowledge/skills development and timeliness.

As academic institutions develop, revise, and assess academic programs, I hope that they do so with the educational needs of students and community/employers in mind.  It’s tempting to create courses and programs because they promise to advance faculty interests in scholarship, to increase revenue, or to allow colleges to compete against institutions that are threatening to dominate the market.  I would recommend that academic programs start curriculum development by working with community and employer partners to identify educational needs and to collaboratively shape educational programs.  I would hope that academic programs are developed to meet the needs of the community and not only to generate revenue or to capture a bigger percentage of the educational market.

Also, I hope that institutions can be more responsive to student/community needs.  Given the many stakeholders involved in the development of a curriculum, it takes a long time to get programs started or revised.  Some of this delay is unavoidable (the shared governance process has many steps, and accreditation may require several approval processes that cannot be completed simultaneously).  Many of the steps in the program approval process are also necessary to ensure program viability, market need, quality of student learning outcomes, academic rigor and accuracy, and new online course development.

But some of these steps may be unnecessary, and, altogether, they can delay a college’s innovation and responsiveness.  This problem is industry-wide right now, but imagine if Apple, Amazon, or another large company bought or created a platform like Coursera or iTunes for online courses and convinced the Education Department to offer equivalent college credit, certification, or financial aid for this online coursework!  It would be very difficult for traditional colleges to keep up.  An online course provider could solicit hundreds of courses by subject matter experts and instructional designers, and it could quickly make these available to everyone through its online portal or mobile app.

In contrast, a college instructor would need to create a new program proposal (which would include several new courses, course syllabi, and sample course content and assignments), solicit feedback and approval from the department or college curriculum committee, advance the proposal to the dean, to the university curriculum committee, to the Academic Assembly or Faculty Senate, to the Provost, and to the Board.  Then it needs approval by state and federal accreditors and approval for financial aid.  Additionally, new instructors may need to be hired, new course content will need to be developed, additional marketing and recruiting will be needed, and additional student support services, such as tutoring, may be needed.  This slow process doesn’t sound student-centered, and it isn’t responsive to the emerging needs of employers, communities, and students.

Colleges may be able to respond to emerging needs faster if they cut some of the internal and legal red tape and also focused on developing tools (rather than on developing programs and courses) to help students develop their skills and knowledge.

Competing for students at an emotional level.

Business sales theory and organizational psychology suggest that people make decisions at an emotional level.  Yet, colleges keep trying to attract potential students by appealing to their intellectual decision making processes; they highlight reasons for enrollment such as low cost, financial support, convenient online courses, academic support services, high employment likelihood after graduation, quality of academic programs, etc…

According to the arguments about emotional decision making, intellectual approaches to student recruitment are not as effective as an emotional connection with students.  To appeal to potential students emotionally, colleges will need to create emotional experiences that will develop authentic relationships.  Examples may include increasing the amount of service-learning, community involvement/outreach, community education programs, having a winning sports team, involving the community on campus more frequently, setting up a hospital/clinic partnership…. The overall goal is to build a relationship, earn trust, and win over hearts.

Feedback

What do you think are the most important challenges in higher education?  Post your comments in the “leave a reply” section below, or click on “Contact” and send me a private email.

Lirim Neziroski, Ph.D., MBA is an academic leader and an assessment and technology expert at a liberal arts university in the Chicago area. Contact Lirim directly for additional resources and speaking, consulting, and writing opportunities.