Visual Turn

Will higher ed forfeit its teaching role to for-profits?

“For-profits are better placed to expand online because they do not have to worry about resistance from academic staff, nor about exploiting their earlier investment in campus facilities. A disruptive technology, which online learning may prove to be, rarely favours existing providers,” said [President of the Commonwealth of Learning, Sir John] Daniel. 

That raised the question of whether higher education would split over the coming years into a public sector focused on research and a for-profit sector doing most of the teaching. Daniel said the recent dramatic funding cuts to UK universities was likely to significantly swing the balance in funding higher education towards research and away from teaching.

I’ve been arguing this for years, but I’m not sure the bulk of the teaching will necessarily go to for-profits. There’s a great role for undergraduate-focused teaching colleges in public higher ed, but community colleges are too stretched by their multiple missions, and faculty and administration at universities are much more interested in their research role than their teaching role.

Higher education is now at a crossroads. If public higher education forfeits its teaching role to more nimble for-profits, students will be the losers.

— Visual Turn