Mitchell Stevens

Michael W. Kirst

Between 1945 and 1990 the United States built the largest and most productive higher education system in world history. Over the last two decades, however, dramatic budget cuts to public academic services and skyrocketing tuition have made college completion more difficult for many. Nevertheless, the democratic promise of education and the global competition for educated workers mean ever growing demand. Remaking College considers this changing context, arguing that a growing accountability revolution, the push for greater efficiency and productivity, and the explosion of online learning are changing the character of higher education. Writing from a range of disciplines and professional backgrounds, the contributors each bring a unique perspective to the fate and future of U.S. higher education. By directing their focus to schools doing the lion's share of undergraduate instruction—community colleges, comprehensive public universities, and for-profit institutions—they imagine a future unencumbered by dominant notions of "traditional" students, linear models of achievement, and college as a four-year residential experience. The result is a collection rich with new tools for helping people make more informed decisions about college—for themselves, for their children, and for American society as a whole.

The Changing Ecology of Higher Education

Remaking College

W. Richard Scott

"Universities and colleges often operate between two worlds: higher education and economic systems. It is impossible to understand how current developments are affecting colleges without attending to the changes in both the higher education system and in the economic communities in which they exist. W. Richard Scott, Michael W. Kirst, and colleagues focus on the changing relations between colleges and companies in one vibrant economic region: the San Francisco Bay Area. Colleges and tech companies, they argue, have a common interest in knowledge generation and human capital, but they operate in social worlds that substantially differ, making them uneasy partners. Colleges are a part of a long tradition that stresses the importance of precedent, academic values, and liberal education. High-tech companies, by contrast, value innovation and know-how, and they operate under conditions that reward rapid response to changing opportunities. The economy is changing faster than the postsecondary education system."--The cover.

Connected But Conflicted

Higher Education and Silicon Valley

It focuses on the ways in which various types of colleges have endeavored—and often failed—to meet the demands of a vibrant economy and concludes with a discussion of current policy recommendations, suggestions for improvements and reforms at the state level, and a proposal to develop a regional body to better align educational and economic development.

Michael W. Kirst

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