Disruptive Online Education And Autonomy

Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation includes as one of its tenets that it is rare for incumbents in an industry to maintain their dominant position once a disruptive innovation has run its course. In industries as different as software, steel manufacturing and online book retailing, incumbents have been pushed aside by new organizations by employing technologies in new ways. Although large, well-run organizations often have the resources to generate innovations, their commitment to existing customers, focusing on improving existing systems, and unwillingness to pursue niche markets, stops them from investing sufficiently in new products and new markets.

NO FOOD NO TEACHING

Students in George Parrott's psychology courses have an unusual requirement: they must bring homemade snacks each week to the laboratory section, and they need to work out a schedule such that groups of students make sure each session is covered, and that snacks aren't repeated from week to week. If there are no snacks, Parrott walks out of his class at California State University at Sacramento, and the students lose that week's instruction.

Danish online network to recruit Chinese talent

Denmark had launched its first-ever website which would enable talented Chinese students and professionals to connectdirectly with Danish universities and firms.

Backed by top Danish companies and universities, the Sino Danish Network (www. sino danishnetwork.com) aims to become a platform for Danish companies to recruit from the pool of future Chinese talents, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The website's partners include leading Danish companies such as Arla Foods, Carlsberg, Chr. Hansen, Danfoss, Grundfos and Maersk, which will provide the network with open vacancies for Chinese students and professionals.

To promote itself, the Sino-Danish Network is also opening accounts in two of China's most popular social media sites, Sina Weibo and Renren, according to the statement.

For Chinese students and professionals, the website would offer an opportunity to make themselves directly visible to Danish universities and companies, it said.

Furthermore, the website will act as a kind of forum for Sino-Danish Alumni and connect experienced people around China with those from Denmark or Danish companies.

"Many Chinese already have relationships with Denmark either from working in a Danish company or simply by interest. Others are studying in Denmark or are alumni from Danish educational institutions," Danish Ambassador to China Friis Arne Petersen said Tuesday.

"We want to better connect with these 'Sino-Danes' in order to get a mutually inspiring network and community with exchanges in a range of fields, including professionally, culturally and socially. With the Sino-Danish Network, we now have a forum for gathering and developing this network," Petersen said.

The network is the first initiative of a Top Talent Program run by the Shanghai-based Innovation Center Denmark, a Danish diplomatic mission in China aimed at attracting Chinese talent to study at Danish universities or pursue a career with Danish companies.

The initiative will be followed by a campaign at several Chinese universities to promote Danish study programs and universities in October, and a Career Caravan event with Danish universities and companies in 2012. 

Impacts of Global University Rankings, EUA report.

EUA commissioned this report in response to the growth in international and national rankings, as a result of increasing questions from member institutions requesting information and advice on the nature of these rankings, because of the interest shown by national governments in ranking exercises, and finally in light of the European Commission’s decision to develop a ‘European ranking’.

The report focuses on international rankings and also refers to a number of other ongoing projects seeking to measure university performance. It describes and analyses the methodologies used by the main international rankings using only publically available and freely accessible information.

It is clear that despite their shortcomings, evident biases and flaws, rankings are here to stay. They ‘enjoy a high level of acceptance among stakeholders and the wider public because of their simplicity and consumer type information’ (AUBR Expert Group, 2009). For this reason it is important that universities are aware of the degree to which they are transparent, from a user’s perspective, of the relationship between what it is stated is being measured and what is in fact being measured, how the scores are calculated and what they mean.

However, it is important to underline that international rankings in their present form only cover a very small percentage of the world’s 17,000 universities, between 1% and 3% (200-500 universities),completely ignoring the rest.

The report confirms that most international rankings focus predominantly on indicators related to the research function of universities. Attempts to measure the quality of teaching and learning generally involve the use of proxies, often with a very indirect link to the teaching process, and are rarely effective.

The importance of links to external stakeholders and environments are largely ignored. Where existing data is used, it is often not used consistently, and reputational factors have in many cases disproportional importance. Taken together, this leads to an oversimplified picture of institutional mission, quality and performance, and one that lacks relevance for the large majority of institutions, especially at a time when diversification and individual institutional profiling are high on agendas across Europe.

TO BE AHEAD OF COLLEGE GAME.

This is a partial checklist of what colleges should to be doing to be ahead of the game:

1. Articulation — Is your college negotiating agreements with community colleges, other institutions with similar missions and programs as yours, and some for-profit providers? If not, it’s time to start.

2. Course availability — Are courses available from multiple entry points, such as online and in-person, at remote sites, and on e-devices such as cellphones and iPads? You can’t be afraid to experiment with this.

3. Part-time students — Are all of your services and people devoted to the needs of your full-time students? Or, are you offering special services, accommodation, and attention to part-timers? They will make up the fastest-growing percentage of new students. Show them you care.

4. Adult Students — Related to the last point. The greatest growth in your students is not going to be in 18-22 year-olds but in students in their 30s and older. What are you doing that makes them feel more welcome and comfortable?

5. Enrollment base —  Is your budget based on tuition from full-time students? Realize that they will become fewer in number, and the budget is going to have to work in course-by-course students, drop-in students, etc.

6. Degrees — Are you trying to offer every degree program yourself? Are you going to focus on what you do better than anyone else, and then find partnerships that cover other programs?

7. The finish line — It isn’t enough to get students in the door. Your college needs to figure out how to get them to finish their degrees. An estimated 37 million Americans have some college credit for no college degree. They need you to get better opportunities for themselves. Find them, and show them how you can help.

8. Blended studies — Higher education has been defined for too long by studies in specific disciplines when research, culture and particularly the working world are looking for connections between the disciplines. Look for ways to blend your curriculums and come up with new programs of study that combine them.

9. Give credit where credit is due. A growing trend in higher education is to give credit for life experience. Witness the growth of Western Governors University, where this concept is key. Is your college developing tests to measure the aptitudes and skills of your students? You’ll burn them out if you force them to relearn things they already know.

10. Culture – This is the foundation of your institution and your greatest asset. Make sure to develop programs and create opportunities that cultivate a distinct culture. It is your brand. It’s what sets you apart. How you help it grow and strengthen will make a difference.