Mark C. Taylor

In the coming decade, emerging technologies will thoroughly transform higher education. Although distance learning and computer-assisted education have been around since the 1960s, financial pressures are forcing institutions to develop aggressive online programs. When education goes online, how professors teach, what students learn and how institutions are structured will change significantly. Some changes are well […]

Excessive specialization has created a culture of expertise that has distorted higher education and had a negative impact on faculty members, students and the broader society. While global transportation, communications and information technologies have created interconnection, academic disciplines and fields have, paradoxically, become more fragmented and isolated. Universities boast of their global expansion and vision, […]

Competition, we are constantly told, encourages individuals, institutions and companies to take the risks necessary for innovation and efficiency. But in higher education, competition often discourages risk taking, leads to overly cautious short-term decisions, produces a mediocre product for the price, and promotes excessive spending on physical plants and bureaucracies. The construction arms race on […]