Dive Summary:
- As tuition continues to climb, debt soars and students see the diminishing value of higher education, an article in the Economist contends the emergence and development of alternative educational models, such as massive open online courses (MOOCs), challenges the increasingly bloated traditional university model to shape up or die out.
- Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, is anticipating "wholesale bankruptcies" for universities over the next ten years; in order to survive, below-top-tier universities will need to incorporate a "second, virtual university" with their campus-based offerings.
- While Sebastian Thrun, a former Stanford University professor and the founder of Udacity, is predicting there will only be 10 universities left in the world by 2050, the Economist article asserts a MOOC-induced overhaul of higher education will create "new opportunities for the agile" and educators able to define their value to students.
From the article:
"Top-quality teaching, stringent admissions criteria and impressive qualifications allow the world’s best universities to charge mega-fees: over $50,000 for a year of undergraduate study at Harvard. Less exalted providers have boomed too, with a similar model that sells seminars, lectures, exams and a “salad days” social life in a single bundle. Now online provision is transforming higher education, giving the best universities a chance to widen their catch, opening new opportunities for the agile, and threatening doom for the laggard and mediocre. ..."
