Dive Brief:
- Sijbolt Noorda, the President of Magna Charta Observatory, writes in a policy brief for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation about growing nationalist movements — which he says are threatening the traditionally global and collaborative nature of higher education.
- While quality assurance and accreditation are factors which have helped higher education institutions focus on how to meet students' needs and improve on the open nature of the enterprise, leaders in the space typically look to each other to determine the "the-right-thing-to-do," writes Noorda. But the paradigm is shifting now that political systems in Europe and North America are inhibiting the original "social contract" of education.
- Noorda concludes the larger changes in higher education mean the profiles of institutions, their missions, and quality assurance around them needs to be re-imagined, as a prior emphasis on diversity and social mobility is becoming increasingly overshadowed by a prioritization of individualistic research and careerism.
Dive Insight:
The traditional model for higher education focuses on developing the student to become an engaged and informed citizen of not only the nation, but also the world. This emphasis on globalization in the purpose of higher education institutions and their research goals may need to be reassessed in the era of Brexit and travel bans, as the international political movement toward nationalism means that the prior demand of college and universities being a space for internationalism is now being undermined.
Examples of this have already swelled on campuses across the nation, as students find themselves dissatisfied and protesting against the way institutions are handling their approaches to diversity. Stakeholders have also started to wonder whether institutions are going to be able to keep their doors open to international students generally.
But while Noorda advises education leaders to rethink the purpose of their institutions given political trends, they could also take steps to reaffirm the original goal of education beyond the primary level — despite movements abroad. While it's true that educators often take heed of each other as they consider important decisions, higher education is also seeing a wave of disruption, changes in the style of learning and teaching, and the rise of nontraditional students. There is space in these trends for leaders in the industry to see a commitment to diversity and globalization as a form of innovation.