Redefining university
Higher education for a new society
Today, higher education is under tremendous pressure to meet greater expectations, whether it be student numbers, educational quality, the needs of professionals, or economic development. Meanwhile, the resources available to higher education institutions are declining.
While the purpose of universities may have remained constant for centuries, the world around them is undergoing significant change. The main challenges and trends impacting higher education today are: massification, globalization and internationalization, distance education, digitalization, privatization, demand for better learning and student experience, the global flow of talent, ranking of research universities and the “world-class” phenomenon, quality assurance and university-industry collaboration.
Higher education management struggles with questions like: How to strengthen international cooperation by encouraging diversity and pursuing equity, relevance and quality? Some successful new models seem to emphasize the student experience, and a drive for innovation and entrepreneurship – one of the most recent examples being the Design Factory at Aalto University.
We have already witnessed how organisational change increases the impact of ICT in education and training, as schools evolve towards open learning centres, universities towards learning service providers, and companies towards learning organisations. ICT supports virtually every aspect of higher education, including finances, learning, research, security, and sustainability. IT professionals and policy makers in universities need to understand the range of problems their institutions face so they are able to apply ICT where it brings greatest value. In this issue you may find a few examples of these actions.
Creating a better future for higher education requires collaboration across organizational and national boundaries, bringing together the collective intelligence of people from different backgrounds including those from education, corporate environments, and government.
The objective of this issue of eLearning Papers is to explore ways to advance change within higher education. The articles focus on new pedagogical approaches, such as eLearning and Blended Learning, while others reflect on key aspects of change processes. Technology is perceived as a relevant factor, not the driving force but a supporting element with a strong presence within the new university model. We hope that these texts generate different ways for reflecting on the university and its role in today’s society.
