56. Clues to the Future of Higher Ed: Go Small

In the last episode, I looked at pipelines to the university presidency and what the future of the presidency might look like.  My observation is that if we don’t change what we put into the pipeline, that leads to the presidency, we shouldn’t expect something different to come out the other end. The same is true for institutions. We have to look at what goes into making a university, and what we can expect the result to be. It has been suggested that institutions like the Ivies and public mega-universities  can be models for future institutions. I disagree. These are fine establishments, but they represent higher ed’s legacy, not the future. They are products of a set of previous socioeconomic conditions, politics and purpose that are all different today. So where do we look for indications of what the future will look like? I think we should study institutions that are changing the pipeline by changing the mix of what goes in—and what is coming out. These places do not aspire to be like traditional models.  They are using measured, responsible strategies to forge a new model. They are not trying to go big.  They are going small to get big. We'll look at one.   EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Network.