Transforming higher education institutions to meet evolving educational needs | Deloitte Canada via kwout
The Making the grade 2011 study recently released by Dellotte points to the top 10 issues facing higher education institutions. This report not only identifies the challenges but offers essential strategies that must be considered. The top 10 challenges include:
- Over budget and underfunded – As funding declines, cost management is key
- The rivalry intensifies – Competition to attract the best students heats up
- Setting priorities – The danger of making decisions in the dark
- Moving at the speed of cyberspace – Technology upgrades are needed across the board
- Rethinking infrastructure – A renewed focus on asset optimization
- Linking programs to outcomes – Where training and market demand intersect
- The best and the brightest – Attracting and retaining talented faculty
- A sustainable future – Enhancing environmental performance
- Education for all – Tackling diversity, accessibility and affordability
- Regulations and reporting – New responsibilities require better disclosure
I don’t think anyone who has spent any time in higher education will be surprised by this list. While some may view this as an overwhelming challenge, I see this as an wonderful opportunity for progressive institutions to innovative and to really differentiate themselves.
The two areas that present the greatest opportunity are technology implementation and outcomes based learning. The institutions that can leverage technology to manage costs and improve their learning environments will have a distinct advantage over those who simply adopt traditional business IT models that force the user into systems approaches at the expense of the needs of the learner. Similarly institutions that are agile enough to move toward outcomes based curriculum and are also able to provide evidence that their learners can clearly demonstrate these abilities will be able to not only weather the upcoming storm in higher education but will be able to attract the best the brightest students and faculty. It is truly an exciting time to be in higher education–we will be living through some very significant changes.
