university as a platform

Even as the cost of tuition increased, the value of university went unquestioned. Colleges bundled education and signaling. Students who thrived in boring classes signaled traits to employers, like conscientiousness, intelligence and conformity. Now, due to the proliferation of information on the internet and the rise of affordable and effective al... See more

There’s a potential for change in higher ed, as momentum picks up for emerging hybrid models that distribute the risk between the student, the university and the employer.

what if universities offered students shorter-term courses for in-demand skills (software, cybersecurity, data skills and others making up the global skills gap), and then have employers or recruiters pay for a part of their tuition if they are hired or placed? Those employers could even bring them on board through apprenticeships and learn in the ... See more

All in all, my bet for an emerging model in higher ed coming out of this crisis will look something like:

In particular, the choice to valorize disruption and innovation sits uneasily with both the actual process of university education and the needs of careers that people will actually have. It’s also bad for society on net.

Like mass media and mass commerce, the average university is on the brink of collapse. Its structure is a rotting legacy of the Industrial Age. For years, anybody who wanted to learn on their own lacked the means to do so. Now, anybody with an internet connection has access to information. Harvard and Stanford will be okay, but dark days are ahead ... See more