The demand for educational expertise to support social and economic
development is forcing higher education to look for new educational systems
and delivery mechanisms (Oblinger and Maruyama, 1996). It is estimated
that by the year 2000, over 75 percent of America's work force will need
to update their current skills or learn new skills, and must then continue
to update their knowledge skills every five years. Further
estimates indicate that the amount of information available will be doubled
every seven years, and the average person in America will change his or
her job five to seven times over a lifetime. These combined elements contribute
to an increase in demands for learning at the local and global levels,
and are enhancing competition for accessing the market among education
providers. The mass market of education, along with demands of learners,
employers, and society, is transforming traditional education to the business
of education, a system that can satisfy the needs of the market. Lenington
(1996) states, “The market for any product changes with time and society’s
needs, and for this reason an institution must continually assess the marketplace
and redefine mission and curriculum” (p. 67).
Directing higher educational institutions away from their traditional
systems toward a business of education involves the following practices:
Asynchronous Education
In the 20th century, people came to higher educational institutions
for information and knowledge. In the 21st century, information and knowledge
will go to people without any geographic limitation. Students from South
Africa, the United States, and Hong Kong can all register in the same course
offered by Britain’s Open University or American Duke University’s MBA
program. These programs offer asynchronous education, a logical response
to the need for learning-on-demand without limitation of time and place.
While geographic limitation was a strong reason for each institution to
attract many local students in the past, continuous advancement in computer
and communication technologies is supporting the growth of asynchronous
educational programs. Presently, more than 800 institutions in the United
States, all competing for students not only from local and national levels,
but also from around the world, offer Cyber-education. The Next Generation
Internet, a federally-led initiative, and Internet2, a university-led effort,
will facilitate the expansion of Cyber-education even more in the 21st
century. Nationally and globally, asynchronous education will create tough
competition among traditional institutions and other education providers
in accessing the market and attracting learners. Traditional campuses will
continue to attract students, but even on-campus students will demand some
asynchronous learning activities and courses in their schedules. Asynchronous
education simply coincides well with demands of the market and load of
life of most learners.
Marketing
When I travel to Indianapolis, I see a big billboard that invites people
to a higher educational institution; the billboard that follows immediately
invites people to buy Ford cars. The purposes of these billboards are identical:
they are both trying to introduce their products and attract new clients
and customers. Higher educational institutions are also advertising their
programs more commonly through television, the Internet, and newspapers
to identify themselves and their products to reach prospective learners
on a local, national, and even international level. For example, Blumenstyk
(1998) writes that The Community College Distance Network is going national
with $30,000 in contributions from each participating college. The first
advertisements will appear in August 1998 in Chicago and Los Angeles, where
there are large immigrant populations. The hope is to attract new
students to more than 500 courses. This example of a customer-oriented
advertisement to deliver messages to a specific target market and to introduce
specific services and products is becoming more common in education. A
higher educational institution’s practice of marketing has the same purpose
as business branches: they want to reach an audience and clients, and to
build an identity in the field. These institutions are willing to spend
big dollars for marketing from their annual budgets. Lenington (1996) states
that “Marketing in a highly competitive marketplace is new to higher education.
To be effective, it is going to require more attention, more money, an
integrated approach, and more professional programs” (p. 75).
Competition
Global demands and needs for knowledge and skills have created
a mass market for education. In addition to competition among higher educational
institutions, corporate universities are making life even harder for these
institutions. Denning (1999) cites Jean Meister, president of the
Corporate University Exchange, who said that there is an enormous network
of corporate universities in the United States, some 1,500 of them with
combined annual budgets of $30 billion. These corporate universities are
offering competency-based and outcome-oriented educational training along
with professional and certification programs. Some of them, such as the
Arthur D. Little School in Boston, have formal degree granting powers.
Others have developed partnerships with more traditional colleges and universities
that provide standard course credits from higher educational institutions
to students of corporate universities.
Corporate universities have programs and philosophies that meet the
requirements and demands of most learners and employers. In addition to
traditional degree programs, higher educational institutions should offer
career professional and certification programs such as Duke’s global MBA,
Penn State University’s Executive Program, and Mercer University’s Technical
Certification programs. Asynchronous and synchronous offering of these
types of programs can increase an institution’s competitive edge in the
market of education. The competition among and partnerships with corporate
universities and other higher educational institutions will direct these
institutions away from traditional educational systems and toward systems
employing business processes and practices.
Partnership
There are already many different types of partnership programs
to attract learners, share technical and professional skills, utilize human
resources, develop innovative programs and advanced computer applications,
generate new knowledge by research, and strengthen the quality of learning
resources. The Western Governors University (WGU) is a good example of
partnership among higher educational institutions. Presently, 18 states
are participating members. The main goal of WGU is to provide competency-based
education toward degree, certificate professional, and technical educational
programs. The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development
(UCAID), established in 1997, is another form of partnership for the development
of better quality tools and resources. Also some universities, in collaboration
with corporations such as Microsoft, Cicso, Oracle, and Novel, are offering
certification programs and use experts from these corporations for teaching.
The following are possible partnerships higher educational institutions
might consider:
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a way to find level of quality and to measure programs
against similar programs offered by other higher educational institutions.
While benchmarking has commonly been a tool for comparing and measuring
methods in businesses and industry, many higher educational institutions
now consistently practice benchmarking for improvement and competitiveness
of their programs. For instance, in 1994, Penn State University’s information
technology department compared its program against similar programs at
five major research universities: UCLA, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, and
Wisconsin (Augustson, 1994). The following steps can help institutions
in the process of benchmarking:
Competency-based Education
Competency is the ability to utilize knowledge in solving a problem,
managing a team, designing a process, developing a program, delivering
a service, producing a product, or improving a situation. Considering the
rate at which computer and communication technologies are penetrating all
facets of life, everyone is required to posses two different types of competencies:
basic competency in information technology and competency related to discipline
and subject matter.
For centuries, discipline-related competency has been the main criterion
for the accomplishment of any discipline-related task. But presently, in
most cases, the successful completion of a discipline-related task also
requires an adequate level of competency in information technology.
For example, a faculty member in a natural resources department teaches an on-campus course on Chemical Spills. The faculty member should have knowledge of the soil, contaminants, cleanup techniques, related theories, and relevant methodologies. In addition, the faculty member should have adequate knowledge about using e-mail, bulletin boards, and web applications and resources. This faculty member’s students also need to have adequate basic competency to communicate and collaborate with the teacher and other students by computer, and to find needed resources on the web. The demands and needs for basic competency will continue to include more branches of society in the 21st century. While the explosion of knowledge does create challenges, higher educational institutions can also benefit from the power and possibilities of computer and communication technologies to develop quality competency-based learning resources and programs. A computer application of a theory, a computer case study of an event, and a simulation program of a model can help students learn the subject matter in depth and use new knowledge and skills more effectively in real situations. Fortunately, every discipline has rich samples, events, and models that can be developed into computer case studies and simulations.
The movement toward competency-based education does not represent a call for converting liberal arts universities to vocational ones. It is, rather, a call for competency-based education in areas and subjects in which students need to develop practical as well as theoretical knowledge. The competency-based curricula that complement the liberal arts curricula can help students apply knowledge and perform more adequately in real situations. For example, Mercer University Information Technology Center, in collaboration with Innovative Community Technology Service, offers technical certification programs in Microsoft, Cisco, and Novel. The short-term certification programs fit perfectly with the needs for new skills of adult learners. The programs also provide practical knowledge for students in degree-oriented programs such as computer science and information technology. Competency-based education is another new reality for higher educational institutions in the business of education.
Toward Business Process
The necessity of asynchronous education, partnerships, benchmarking,
competency-based education, and competing in the global market will continue
to change higher educational institutions’ cultures, structures, approaches,
and practices toward a business system. For a successful transition, higher
educational institutions should initiate the following actions: