The future compatible campus: Global education in the 21st century

Although some of this article's content is not relevant to liberal arts colleges, it nevertheless offers valuable insights on the relationship between technology and education and the new “learning atmosphere” that students desire.   

Information technology will change all forms of education.  There is shift from what emphasis on merely memorizing bases of knowledge acquisition to knowing how to find and use channels of information.  Knowing how to learn is more important than the facts accumulated.  Information technology will allow a student to experience his or her own learning environments in ways that are authentic, interactive, equitable, sensory, modular, global and network-based.   

Technology, globalization, complexity, demographics, and the linkage between education and economics are the major trends that will change the face of education.  With goods and services flowing freely across borders and among trading blocks, graduates will have to compete with their peers from oversees.  Global competition no longer means a low wage unskilled labor pool; it now includes a high quality, highly productive work force.  “Globalization is inexorable.” All areas of work are becoming more complex, so it is less likely that a single individual will be able to know enough to master a complete area of work.  Therefore, professionals must be able to interact intelligently and communicate clearly while working together.   

Higher education is the key to economic growth and a stable society.  Education is thus an investment on a career and social status.  It is in the interest of all to promote higher levels of education and training for all citizens, including those who are rapidly losing earning power in society.  Population growth is outpacing the world’s capacity to give people access to universities; a crisis of access lies ahead.   

Future compatible campuses are consumer oriented, placing the learner at the center of their philosophy of service.  Access to information is more open.  The new trend is for students to be able to learn independent of time and place.  According to the author and a source she cites, “the days of a campus-centric model are fading.”  

The new type of “learning” is not dependent on teaching but is a social process and interactive.  Learning is more productive if students can master a body of knowledge in less time.  A “learning franchise,” which should replace “teaching franchises,” provides access to powerful learning systems information and knowledge bases, scholarly exchange networks with customizable learning modules, and systems open to anyone who needs them and can compensate the provider.  Measurement and certification are important for many but not all learners. 

The paper concludes with a quote: “We are engaged in a battle.  The world’s universities are in crisis, assailed by challenges of access, cost and flexibility.  The traditional classroom of the campus university has had a long run as the preferred means for achieving the ultimate goals of the university.  But the classroom model is approaching its ‘sell-by’ date.  It is not the means that are important, but the ends to which the university aspires.”

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