Blogs:

Today, without doubt, our higher education system lacks the credibility it showcased about a decade back. There are many obvious reasons for this including certain compromised ideas that rule the scenario. Here are a few ideas that are playing havoc with our ailing higher education system.

Long term viability compromised for short term savings – Many institutions across our country are hugely compromising on long viability for short term cost savings. In order to sustain themselves, these institutions are adopting cost saving measures in the form of faculty models based on non-tenure and part time strategies and adjunctification.

The only way we can turn around the situation is to employ highly experienced and trained university and college educators and offer quality education. It goes without saying that the back bone of any educational institution is its faculty. Investing in faculty is the smartest thing to do for institutions aiming to create value.

A strong, interactive relationship between students and educators is the only way to deliver quality education. Authentic education does not take place on the internet. Rather, quality knowledge can be imparted only at the human level.

Acquiring content is not the only way to acquire skills like social intelligence, critical thinking and leadership. Prioritizing scale over human relationships is a major blunder as adaptive learning platforms completely eliminate the extremely essential personal relationships between teachers and students.
 
Every single problem facing our higher education system cannot be addressed with technology. Technology is not the system itself but only a means of reaching goals. We must focus on finding effective solutions that work and not divert our resources towards distracting technology.

Over years, dependence on technology has only resulted in losing credibility with our precious faculty, our backbone. Once our valued, experienced faculty members navigate away to different professions, our resources continue to dwindle and our boat is left bereft of oars.
 
Experienced teachers must work directly with students to impart knowledge using assistive technological tools. We must make a strong case for the primary educators realizing the limits of technology in the field of education.

There is also as strong misconception that our higher education system is in dire crisis. There is no doubt that many of our universities and colleges are facing financial challenges. However, just because a few schools and universities were forced to shut down does not mean that our entire education system is crumbling.

US postsecondary system continues to remain amazingly resilient, dynamic and diverse. What we should focus on now is on the six year graduation rates rather than on a select few schools closing their doors. Demand for postsecondary education will continue to rise especially due to the increasingly information based global economy.

Change and innovation will be spurred on by the severe pressure on our universities and colleges to improve standards. These are a few bad ideas we must stop focusing on and turn our attention to innovation and creative measures that could bring a major turnaround. We must also encourage our precious faculty members and nurture their talents developing a strong student teacher relationship in all aspects.