April 2, 2014
Below are some of the key trends and themes discussed at recent major higher education meetings held by the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards among others. This issue is particularly salient as many legislatures deal with higher education budgetary issues this month and many high school seniors receive their college acceptances (or sadly, rejections…).
The Need for a New Business Model
Higher education leaders are talking a lot about the need for major change in higher education finance, structure and teaching. There is an increasing understanding that the business model and value proposition of higher education institutions are in a state of flux, and fiscal responsibility and efficiencies are becoming ever more important. The historic focus on fee for service thinking in higher education needs to shift towards measuring value based on the results of the service (e.g. jobs, increased knowledge). There is also talk of future consolidation taking place in the higher education sector, similar to what we see happening in health care. Just as every hospital doesn’t need an open heart surgery center, not every university has to offer a major in engineering. These changes should all be geared towards maximizing the value of higher education for students while reducing costs. Not an easy proposition, as changing the culture in many entrenched institutions will certainly come with challenges.
Online Learning, Faculty Trends, and College Affordability
Other issues higher education institutions are grappling with include an increased push for more online courses and a growing number of part-time and adjunct faculty being used in place of tenured full-time professors. Some professors at these meetings point out that current faculty incentive structures many times favor research over teaching, which may be one source of the problem students often face in finding course offerings to finish their degrees on time. The effectiveness of financial aid systems is also being called into question, as merit-based aid is increasingly being offered in place of need-based support for lower-income students. If increasing access to higher education is a significant goal, this is not going to help get us there.
The Search for Good Performance Measures
Recommendations some discussed in recent venues alluded to a greater need for evidence-based decision-making as institutions focus on supporting their core missions. This provoked a lot of discussion at the meetings on how to define good measures of higher education success that capture the educational value and increased earning potential from attaining a degree. Identifying a credible set of metrics on all aspects of an institution remains a challenge in this area.
These discussions brought to light several important themes that were also examined in NASBO’s recent report entitled,Improving Postsecondary Education Through the Budget Process: Challenges & Opportunities. Take a look at our report highlighting state budget officers’ thoughts on higher education finance and feel free to leave your comments below.