Dive Brief:

• Stanford University pilots a new exhibit, 'The @Stanford Project,' which envisions a learning environment for undergraduate students learning, working, and serving to meet industrial and personal missions, rather than achieving proficiency in a major. 
• The project challenges students to visualize the ways in which Stanford will evolve in its research, workforce development and philanthropic support, with the influences of technology and encouraging students to follow personal missions instead of professional objectives.
• Helping students to visualize missions early in their academic careers could spur new outcomes in international study and recruitment, startup innovation, and community outreach — all important elements of the 21st century college profile. 

Dive Insight:

For generations, college leaders relied on the notion that only a few qualified students would achieve high enough marks to find work in industries which limited access to the poor and minorities. But now that demographics are changing and technology has evolved to take positions in research and analysis, the kinds of jobs and the people looking to fill them aren't in step with the social and operational norms of most institutions. 

To remain competitive, higher education must become the industry of the future, to visualizing today's trends in finance, STEM development, and improvement of the human condition through education, public health and entrepreneurship. But these objectives will only be realized with executive commitment to diversity, lowering costs and pairing degrees with industrial growth, both present and future.