The financial sustainability crisis in higher education invokes three types of institutional responses: defensive, transitional, and structural. Most institutions adopt defensive measures due to governance challenges, preferring short-term stability over long-term solutions. Structural changes are rare, despite evidence suggesting their necessity, highlighting a need for improved governance strategies among leaders.
Revenue diversification efforts often fail due to persistent tuition dependence, which hampers institutional capacity. Governance structures and cultures focused solely on enrolment growth hinder diversification strategies. The key issue lies in governance reform; without it, institutions will struggle to effectively diversify their revenue beyond financial limits.
The article emphasizes the urgent need for academic leaders to address curriculum inertia in the age of AI. It presents a 12-month action plan for Deputy and Pro Vice-Chancellors that includes naming outdated curricula as a key challenge, conducting thorough audits, and implementing rapid reform pathways.
The piece discusses how traditional academic governance is failing to adapt to the rapid impact of AI on curricula. It identifies three primary failures: slow review cycles, unclear ownership of AI initiatives, and a focus on compliance rather than transformation. Senior leadership must lead changes to effectively respond to these challenges.
Senior leadership discussions on AI often overlook the critical issue of curriculum inertia in higher education. As the labor market demands AI fluency, many graduates feel unprepared. Institutions risk falling behind in graduate employability, student retention, and reputation unless they adapt their degree programs swiftly to meet these changes.
Many universities continue to design courses focused on lecturers rather than learners. The latest Substack discusses shifting to a collaborative and transparent model, addressing topics like academic autonomy, neuro-inclusive design, the importance of institutional memory, and the challenges posed by the AI divide. This ongoing series supports an 8-Stage Learning Design Framework.
Following up on last week’s post about higher education focusing on the wrong AI emergency, my latest Substack shifts from
Higher education is shifting from a traditional transmission model to intentional learning design, emphasizing active knowledge construction and mastery. Research supports the effectiveness of active learning, while Learning Design emerges as a critical discipline. The pandemic and Generative AI have accelerated this transformation, redefining educators as Learning Architects focused on curated, purposeful learning experiences.
The European University Association (EUA) released a report “Strategies for the financial sustainability of European Universities alliances” last week. The
During the Empower Learners for the Age of AI (ELAI) conference earlier in December 2022, it became apparent to me
Have you got some time for professional development over the holiday period? Or do you have colleagues or design teams
Who should universities watch? The question is to what extent universities feel the need to step into the developmental space
Press coverage of recent cryptocurrency disruptions and the significant staff reductions at Twitter and Meta is giving pause for thought
I am not selling anything here. That should be self-evident given that my answer to the question “what is currently
University Leaders will doubtless come away from the latest round of late summer conferences with ideas about how to seize
The threat to the integrity of educational assessments is no longer from ‘essay mills’ and contract cheating but from Artificial
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