Dive Brief:
- Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University officially announced their decision to merge today, effective July 1. In a press release forwarded to Education Dive, the institutions indicate that the combination will create a more comprehensive university that can "deliver high-impact education and value for students in medicine, science, architecture, design, fashion, textiles, health, business, engineering and more."
- The name of the combined institution will be Thomas Jefferson University, where the Honors Programs will be hosted in a newly created Philadelphia University Honors Institute. The two plan on maintaining their respective programs and degrees, as well as expanding on them.
- The creation of the school — colloquially to be known as Jefferson — signals a trend of disruptive innovation in higher education. The press released noted that "at a time when higher education is increasingly under fire for not providing sufficient return for students," the new institution will provide a comprehensive and transdisciplinary campus that offers accelerated degree programs, applied research and experiential learning.
Dive Insight:
Administrators in higher education increasingly experience the trend of disruptive innovation in the industry. Today's students are more diverse and nontraditional, with a greater number of campus members being adult learners. At the same time, prospective students understand that a singular investment in education may not be sufficient to be fully prepared to enter the workforce, and are looking toward more specific and shorter modular education opportunities that can prepare them for the type of job they actually want. Likewise, competition for students is becoming more and more difficult between universities and colleges who face the challenge of appealing to this diversity.
At a workshop on accreditation hosted by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation this past Tuesday, Paul Fain and an accompanying research fellow, Alana Dunagan, from the Clayton Christensen Institute spoke about recent disruptive innovations in the industry. Fain spoke toward the recent acquisition of for-profit Kaplan University by Purdue, and said that this is not the first instance of such a deal happening. And, more for-profit higher education institutions will probably be on the chopping block soon, he said. The creation of Jefferson, therefore, is yet another instance in a series of preexisting signs that institutions will have to make bold moves in order to stay in the game.
Dunagan added that new entrants in the industry that bring a innovative mindset already are going to pose challenges for existing institutions, as these entrants may be able to offer similar and better services more cheaply and more accessibly. For instance, competing universities are now looking toward online learning more substantially, with 30% of students turning toward this service. In terms of the structure of higher education, she said this trend means that public universities are generally already being left behind and will have to catch up in order to compete.