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On Campus Blog
Alex Friedrich

UMN prof: How the university of the future will operate — if it still exists

Go Deeper.

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Here's part of a recent interview on "the university of the future" between John Moravec, a faculty member in the University of Minnesota's Innovation Studies/Master of Liberal Studies graduate programs, and Carlos Scolari a researcher in digital communication, semiotics and media ecology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.

It's taken from the blog Education Futures, which Moravec edits.

CS: How do you imagine the university of the future? Please indicate three (3) characteristics.

JM: This question is perhaps faulty in that it assumes that we will have universities in the future. Maybe you should start with the question: Does the future need universities?

Let’s assume that the future does need universities. In that case, I envision near-future institutions will operate in an environment where…

  2. Any form of information delivery that can be commodified, will be. We see this today with the emergence of MOOCs, Udemy, Coursera, etc. Any non-unique content delivery (especially through download-style pedagogies) will be provided through these platforms, and through a small group of providers. This is particularly threatening to junior colleges, general education courses at mainstream universities, and perhaps also to secondary education.

  4. The gap between top tier schools and everybody else will widen. The top schools may not have superior educational offerings, but they have powerful brands. Why pay to take a course at the University of Minnesota when you can participate in a free, online experience that is affiliated with a top school, such as Stanford or MIT? My take is that the top-tier schools with powerful brand identities will “own” higher education; and, in many respects, other universities will become subscribers to their products and services.

  6. Smaller, “boutique” programs outside the formal, accredited system will boom in presence and market share. Small, but highly specialized, programs such as KaosPilots, Knowmads, YIP, Hyper Island, and theShibuya University Network operate outside of formal education, and have each developed their own approaches to teaching and learning. In an era where mainstream society are beginning to question the value of a university degree, these programs offer alternatives, and employers will become much, much more receptive to the “graduates” of these alternative education/credentialing programs.

He then writes:

I think that, apart from the very few elite institutions, universities are marching themselves toward obsolescence, and they may be the last to figure it out.

You can read his blog post here.