The Future of Higher Education

The scenarios of the future are making their way onto the college campuses of today. Order NEA's CD-ROM on the Future of Higher Education to get a closer look at the current issues and trends affecting higher education.  Is the corporate model imposing a market driven future on the academy.  Step into the future campuses of tomorrow, and explore our vision of quality public higher education—equal and affordable access for all Americans.

In this scenario, society has determined that higher education is no longer a governmental responsibility, but the responsibility of the individual. Education budgets provide only the bare essentials, and an education is expected to be functional--that is, each individual should be educated to hold a job in a society. In order to survive, the various state higher education institutions have adapted their programs and operations to handle the reduced funding. At the same time, there is increasing pressure on the institutions to handle a new wave of immigration and to provide trained cadres of workers to businesses. From this dilemma arises a spate of educational Darwinian survival struggles. By 2011 higher education falls into four general structures, all of the designs featuring the increased use of technology as an essential part of the delivery system.

Quality Driven Futures

The nation comes to the conclusion that education must be a seamless web, that opportunities should not be limited to particular age or income group, but should be available to all residents. Higher education becomes viewed as a public good, as an important investment in societal well being. As such, society cannot afford to have potentially productive members shunted aside because of economic stringency or cultural or racial differences. Therefore, when Congress passes the Universal Access Act (UAA), of 2006, higher education undergoes a dramatic shakeup in its purpose and form. As part of the UAA each resident of the nation has a right to the equivalent of two years of higher education paid for by the government, and the Act provides additional funding for institutions to create educational access streams throughout the community. Curiously, much of the increased access is handled through effective use of educational technologies.