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From 2010 to 2020, technology will change twice as fast as it did in the last decade. Humionics, or wearable computing, will become the norm. Over the next 20 years, 80 percent of the world’s population growth will be in those countries least capable of supporting it politically, environmentally and economically. Global trends in population growth, economic development, industrialization and food production will place increasing stress on the world’s water supply. These are just a few of the challenges the world is facing.
A Strategic Look “An institution that doesn’t have a vision, that doesn’t have a sense of direction will simply drift,” says President Lex McMillan. “We need to be focused and intentional.” In 2002, the Board of Trustees
approved the current strategic plan for the
College. In fall 2005, McMillan convened a
committee of individuals representing all of
the College’s constituencies to review, evaluate
and update that plan. Led by trustee John
Baily ’65 and professor Thomas Brogan, the
committee asked for feedback from faculty,
administrators, staff, students, alumni and
In his charge to the committee McMillan said: “I view this process as interactive and collaborative. There are no sacred cows. We want to build excitement and momentum. We seek to define and pursue an excellence that is uniquely our own, an excellence that is rooted in the distinctive character and historic strengths of Albright College.” The updated plan will be discussed at the Board of Trustees’ October meeting. The Board will approve the final plan at their winter meeting in February 2007. Recognizing the important role a strategic plan plays in the life of the college, McMillan says, “We must be strategic. We can’t be all things to all people. We can’t do everything we’d like to do and we can’t follow every good idea. We have to be focused, strategic and intentional about using the limited resources the College has to best meet our mission and be most responsive to public service.” He adds, “It’s not just a thing to put on a shelf. The strategic plan will be the driver of our budgetary decisions.” Once approved by the Board, the plan will be posted on the Albright College web site.
- Durland Fish, Ph.D. ’66, General Education One definition of a liberally-educated graduate is one who is creative, productive and an active participant in society. A recently formed faculty committee is assessing the current general education requirements in light of this definition. Last fall the entire faculty helped develop the new goals, summed up as follows:“Students will be prepared for a lifetime of thoughtful engagement with the world, characterized by an independent ability to acquire and analyze knowledge, an intellectual capability to synthesize information from various perspectives, and a practical commitment to guide their actions by informed and ethical assessments of situations.” The faculty also emphasized basic skills like writing and literacy. “We can’t presume a certain writing ability given the demographic changes we’re going to see,” says Provost Andrea E. Chapdelaine, Ph.D. Already in year two of the five-year review, Chapdelaine says the faculty will vote on the goals and examine possible models of ways to structure the curriculum by the end of this year. Next year, the faculty will work on key components that may need to be changed. Implementation will begin in year four and by year five, full implementation is expected. “It’s really exciting. This process will reinvigorate One of the driving forces is the notion that students need to take responsibility for their own learning. “A big part of the general studies discussion is how we can use technology such as podcasting, wikis and e-portfolios,” Chapdelaine says. Through technology students will have the tools for self-reflection and be able to ask themselves, “What have I learned?”
- Leslie (Small) Hersh ’69 Where will we find the solutions to these challenges? Many will look to higher education, says Eric Peterson, senior vice president of The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. “Higher education is a critical factor in positioning ourselves to understand and address global challenges in the future.” The American Council on Education (ACE), through a national initiative called Solutions for Our Future, has already begun a dialogue about the critical role colleges and universities play in serving the public, solving pressing societal needs, and preparing people for our country’s future. “We teach the people who solve the problems and change the world,” is the campaign’s slogan. Today, more than 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require at least some postsecondary education. And the fact is, as Alan Greenspan has been quoted, “There is always likely to be anxiety about the jobs of the future, because in the long run most of them will involve producing goods and services that have not yet been invented.” So, while it appears that a college education continues to be more important than ever, higher education is also being faced with more challenges than ever before. Skyrocketing costs, changing demographics, increasing diversity, world competitiveness, the perception that the U.S. is slipping in the sciences and technology, and assessment, are the areas of most concern, according to U.S. secretary of education Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education. The commission recently issued a report detailing a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education. The Spellings Commission “Accessibility, affordability and accountability, these are the buzz words we’re hearing a lot,” says President Lex McMillan. There’s a troubling public perception that higher education lacks a sense of accountability to its shareholders and the public in general. The Spellings Commission states that there is currently no comprehensive accountability strategy in our complex, decentralized system of colleges and universities. “One of the biggest worries I have about the understandable calls for accountability is the danger of treating our richly diverse and decentralized system of higher education as if it were a commodity,” McMillan says. “The solutions being proposed for higher education must take into account the very different missions of the more than 3,000 colleges and universities, both public and private, in the United States.” While the Spellings Commission’s goal is to move from a model of rankings by reputation (U.S. News and World Reports) to ranking based on performance, the question of how to measure those goals has yet to be answered. While colleges like Albright don’t disagree with the idea of measurement, they fear a system of measuring something that is intrinsically difficult to measure. “Our complex, decentralized system of higher education is indeed complex, diverse and decentralized, and that could be its core strength,” McMillan says. “Any attempt to impose a one size fits all measure of accountability could wind up throwing the baby out with the bath. It could endanger the very strengths we celebrate in our complex, decentralized system.” There’s also a perception that higher education costs are out of control. Some predict that with the growth of tuition into the future, higher education will be in serious trouble and that the only liberal arts colleges to survive will be those with Harvard endowments. Several financial factors are indeed a concern for colleges. The federal government has not increased the Pell grant in over five years, and there has been a historic retreat of federal and state dollars in terms of the proportion of the costs they provide to students. The Spellings Commission is calling for an increase in Pell grants and a reorganization of the federal student financial aid program altogether. “At Albright,” McMillan says, “we’ve worked hard to control costs, and we have an aggressive commitment to financial aid.” In addition, he says, the College is always looking at ways to generate new income through summer programs and facilities rentals. While it’s often difficult to predict what the future will bring, some things are certain. The face of higher education will change dramatically in the next 10, 15 years, bringing with it more challenges in regard to affordability. Demographics and Diversity The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that while the number of white high school graduates is predicted to fall, the number of black, non-Hispanic high school graduates will rise slightly. owever, both will be far outpaced by the number of Hispanic students predicted to be in the college admissions pool, many of whom will be the first in their families to attend college. Gregory E. Eichhorn, vice president for enrollment management and dean of admission, says we can also expect more students from lower income families and more adult learners. “We’ll have a larger population of students coming in and out,” says Eichhorn. “It will become more common to take time off during college years for financial and family reasons.” Joan (Develin) Coley, Ph.D. ’66, president
of McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., says,“The vast majority of our students are already
on financial aid, which means that the vast
majority of our students cannot afford the
education that we deliver now. A challenge for
us will be finding ways to keep colleges like Programs like Albright’s Accelerated Degree Completion Program, which is geared to working adults, will become even more popular. “The adult learner population is exploding,” notes Provost Andrea E. Chapdelaine, Ph.D. But no matter where they are from or what age bracket they fall into, students will undoubtedly come with high expectations, especially in the area of technology. The Wired World “Today’s students are owners of technology and users of technology,” says John Cook of The Sextant Group Technology Consultants. “They arrive on campus with a 24/7 expectation.” Most colleges and universities report the highest use of the Internet from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Students expect to get all of the information they need off the Internet. They expect media in the classroom to a much higher extent. And, they expect wireless technology. “Every student today has a cell phone,” Eichhorn says. “I can’t imagine what the next generation of cell phones and iPods will be like.” Technology plays such an integral role today, that in a national survey on studentmonitor.com that asked college students what is the most “in” thing at colleges today, the top three responses were: 1) iPods 2) drinking beer and 3) Facebook.com. According to Cook, “The only other time beer was dethroned in the 18 years of the survey was in 1997…by the Internet.” How should colleges and universities respond? It’s about the three “S’s” – systems, spaces and services, says Cook. “To truly make a change on campus you need to take a comprehensive approach to infusing technology.” Looking at what Cook terms as “the library model,” he says, “Ten years ago people said that libraries were outdated, but they haven’t packed up just because people started using Google. They now offer things that are different and better than Google, like databases that you can’t get on your own.” Cook points out that despite what some people may think, technology doesn’t change how we learn, it supports how we learn. “Technology enables a college to deliver more to its students. Good teachers will design experiences for students to work through,” he says. What else does this technology boom bring to the table? Competition. Global Competition According to Eric Peterson of CSIS, “The best students and entrepreneurs of the developing world are no longer limited by geography and their home country’s development. As information technology continues to reach these workers, they will be able to compete more directly with those in the developed world.” This prediction is from “Revolution 4 – Information,” from Peterson’s “Seven Revolutions Initiative,” a project that looks at key trends out to 2025 in the areas of population, resources, technology, information, economics, conflict and governance. He adds,“In a highly dynamic, knowledge-based economy, constant learning and retraining are not simply desirable; they are necessary to stay relevant. Education systems must adapt to prepare individuals to compete in the global arena.” Competing in the sciences is an area that has educators particularly worried. “There’s a wake-up call nationally on that issue,” says Provost Andrea Chapdelaine. Durland Fish, Ph.D. '66, a professor at Yale School of Medicine, agrees. “U.S. students are increasingly turning away from careers in the sciences both because of low financial rewards and because they are not intellectually prepared,” Fish says. In general, data indicates that U.S. students are less prepared for higher education as many international students. “Institutions of higher education need to partner with K-12 schools to address this issue,” Chapdelaine says. “The U.S. has always been number one in education in the world. Our competitiveness is being threatened.” The Liberal Arts Are the liberal arts being threatened as well? Some educators predict it will be increasingly difficult to market a liberal arts education as career-minded students will look to the “practical liberal arts” disciplines such as allied health fields, education, financial service industries, fashion, digital media, crime & justice, and criminology. Others, like President Lex McMillan and Veronica Donahue DiConti, Ph.D., associate dean for American University’s Washington Semester Program, believe that a liberal arts education is indeed the best education for the future. In a 2004 article in The Journal of General Education DiConti said, “The relevant value of a liberal arts education, then, lies in its ability to enhance men’s and women’s powers of rational analysis, independent judgment, and ability to develop mental adaptability, a characteristic needed in an era of rapid technological change.” Eichhorn says there will also be more pressure and demand for internships, study abroad and service learning. “They’ll need to be a part of all majors,” he says. “We’re becoming a more global society. It just has to happen.” Change is probably the only thing we are guaranteed as we look to the future – curricular change to keep pace with global change; technological change to fulfill the needs of tech-saavy students; demographic change that will force colleges to look at issues such as accessibility and affordability; and new scholarship and research from institutions of higher learning that will ultimately change the world. The essence of higher education is unfettered inquiry – asking questions, seeking answers, trying and failing, trying and succeeding – this is how we learn and when we give students the support and means to have these experiences we are preparing them for a lifetime of success.
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