Abstract:

This session will engage thoughtful conversation about compelling issues and questions that are affecting American higher education in the context of a global educational marketplace. These concerns will be of interest and value to university professors and administrators, teachers and administrators in elementary and high schools, parents, policy makers, businesses, and others who view education as the key to our social and economic futures. The changing expectations for post-secondary education will be briefly examined as well as the contextual realities that are shaping the ways in which post-secondary institutions are functioning. As higher education transformation has become a by-word among American colleges and universities, it is clear that this transformation is being shaped and driven by several major factors.

Contributing factors include deep concerns surrounding funding of higher education as traditional sources of support have been reduced and costs of doing business continue to escalate at inflationary rates. Closely associated is the significant alarm that has been generated relative to the cost for students and families of pursuing higher education and the extent the student debt is becoming unacceptable. The economic situation that is impacting globally has exacerbated this situation as it is increasingly difficult for university graduates to find employment opportunities in fields for which they have prepared themselves.

The ways of teaching and learning have been dramatically affected by the impact of new technologies as well as the increasing demand for convenience of learning access and flexibility in instructional delivery systems. This same reality has altered the traditional faculty teaching role in ways that are changing the nature and role of the professoriate. With faculty salaries constituting one of the major cost factors in university budgets, alternative staffing models are both emerging and growing among institutions of higher education. At the same time, there are clearly competing agendas that are affecting many dimensions of the university campuses. These include increasing pressures for accountability of learning outcomes; potential conflicts in pursuit of the traditional roles of faculty - teaching, research and service; new curricular priorities that relate to the need for accommodating the economic development needs of communities served; reaffirmation of the civic engagement responsibilities of higher education to students and community and changing realities of university governance.

Addressing these issues and questions is further complicated by the expansive costs of other elements that are deemed as essentials to being a holistic educational institution. The cost of intercollegiate athletics draws much debate and analysis, as well as questions of student support systems and for whom these are provided and enhanced and market-sensitive attributes of the physical campus. Finally, all of this is further complicated with the increasingly competitive marketplace realities that include the rapidly growth among the alternative and for-profit higher education institutions as well as the necessity of preparing graduates who are capable of being successful in a global context. The way in which these issues and questions are addressed will be critical in shaping the transformation of American higher education.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Transformation, Critical Issues, Faculty Role, Student Success, Accountabilitiy, Funding Costs, Professoriate.