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Voice of America
US College Leaders See Too Much Competition Ahead
By VOA Student Union
December 03, 2019
A survey of nearly 500 leaders at colleges and universities reflects
other reports that found American higher education is facing challenges
on many fronts.
School officials were asked to name the biggest issues their
institutions would face in the next three to five years and how they
would deal with them. The study was a joint effort with the Georgia
Institute of Technology and the Huron Consulting Group, and was
released in October.
The study identified the top six issues that the 500 leaders listed.
The most common concern? Increasing competition with other educational
institutions. About 62% of those questioned noted that concern.
The next most common issue? The increase in non-traditional students,
meaning students who fall outside the typical 18 and 24 years olds who
enter school each year. The growth of non-traditional students – mostly
adults with full-time jobs -- were cited by 39% of leaders.
Two other concerns were shrinking state and federal financial support,
and decreasing public trust in higher education. Officials said they
were worried about political conditions around the world, too, and
their effect on international students coming to the United States.
But the college and university officials said they have answers. In
fact, 89% expressed confidence in their school’s ability to meet the
needs of the growing number of students who are working adults.
Peter Stokes says colleges and universities have always been dealing
with change. Stokes is the managing director for higher education with
Huron.
After World War II, when the U.S. experience a sharp jump in the U.S.
birth rate -- known as the Baby Boom -- more young people enrolled in
college. Then, after the Great Recession in 2008, the birth rate
dropped. Around that time, the number of working adults starting or
returning to college or university began to rise.
The traditional student population will likely recover eventually,
Stoke says. Until then, schools will have to adapt and increase
internet-based and short-term programs to meet the needs of students
who have less time and money to spend.
As for the five other issues identified in the study, only seven
leaders polled felt very confident in their school’s ability to find
solutions.
Louis Soares is the chief learning officer at the American Council on
Education. He says that in recent years, Americans have come to think
of higher education as more of a means of getting a well-paying job
than as a public benefit.
This may not be surprising given the increased cost of higher
education. But Soares said that this put many educational institutions
in competition with one another to prove how their programs can results
in better jobs.
At the same time, U.S-based companies like Amazon and Google are
creating their own educational programs to compete with traditional
degree programs. And countries like France, Canada and Australia are
becoming more appealing to international students who would have likely
looked to U.S. schools in the past.
As a result, some colleges and universities across the country have
been closing. The U.S. Department of Education reports that in 2018 the
number of institutions nationwide dropped to its lowest level since
1998.
Soares suggests that schools have a better chance of surviving if they
work together, as Georgia Tech has, sharing new program ideas and
methods with 50 other institutions. But that is not always easy.
“U.S. higher education is innovative, but the innovation tends to be small-scale,” he said.
Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and
Universities, says it is important to focus on public trust and
governmental support of higher education.
Pasquerella says U.S. higher education has failed to promote its own
importance to society. Many people have come to think of colleges and
universities as places where students waste time learning unnecessary
subjects or hearing one-sided beliefs.
She says colleges and universities educate future business and
political leaders who shape policies that improve conditions in
communities and the nation. Major scientific and technological
developments usually emerge from a college or university laboratory.
“Demonstrating the ways in which … their success is inextricably linked
to the physical, emotional, economic well-being of people in the
communities in which they’re located and which they seek to serve … is
a first and critical step in helping to restore public confidence in
higher education,” said Pasquerella.
She added that as Americans better appreciate the contributions and
impact of colleges and universities, funding from state and federal
governments will likely increase to previous levels.
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