Declining by degree
Will America’s universities go the way of its car companies?
FIFTY years ago, in the glorious age of three-martini lunches and all-smoking offices, America’s car companies were universally admired. Everybody wanted to know the secrets of their success. How did they churn out dazzling new models every year? How did they manage so many people so successfully (General Motors was then the biggest private-sector employer in the world)? And how did they keep their customers so happy?
Today the world is equally in awe of American universities. They dominate global rankings: on the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy’s list of the world’s best universities, 17 of the top 20 are American, and 35 of the top 50. They employ 70% of living Nobel prizewinners in science and economics and produce a disproportionate share of the world’s most-cited articles in academic journals. Everyone wants to know their secret recipe.
Which raises a mischievous question. Could America’s universities go the way of its car companies? On the face of it, this seems highly unlikely. Student enrolments are higher than ever this year, as Americans who cannot find jobs linger or return to education. Cambridge, Massachusetts, shows no outward sign of becoming Detroit. Yet there are serious questions about America’s ivory towers.
- What Drives Success? – By Amy Chua And Jed Rubenfeld
Link to article: What Drives Success?A SEEMINGLY un-American fact about America today is that for some groups, much more than others, upward mobility and the American dream are alive and well. It may be taboo to say it, but certain ethnic, religious and...
- The Barbarians Are At The Gate! Of Universities, Moats And Disruption! - By Aswath Damodaran
Link to: The barbarians are at the gate! Of universities, moats and disruption!In my last post, I attempted to break down the bundled product that comprises a college education into its component parts, and closed by arguing that the future of universities...
- Inside Higher Ed: Tuition Revenue Down
The comments the article linked to below bring back to mind: John Templeton (June 2005): “Most of the methods of universities and other schools, which require residence, have become hopelessly obsolete. Probably, over half of the universities in the...
- Clayton Christensen: Still Disruptive
Thanks to Will for passing this along. Christensen’s answer the question excerpted below is especially interesting, and echoes what John Templeton wrote in 2005: “Most of the methods of universities and other schools, which require residence, have...
- What Campuses Can Learn From Online Teaching
Thanks to Will for passing this along. Higher education is at a crossroads not seen since the introduction of the printing press. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other campuses, the upheaval today is coming from the technological change...