The Future of Higher Education

Students are becoming more unplugged to traditional lecture and the university environment, so institutions are identifying more innovated ways to connect students with learning and the university community. Institutions are evolving from internal to external, not delaying or permitting educational and technical trends to dictate change. Institutions are beginning to embrace the power of transformation (i.e. open access, MOOC’s, disruptive technology, social media, flipped classrooms, competency based learning, and etc.). The role of faculty is also changing and being redefined, due to the impact and growth of technology and distant learning platforms. Faculty is needed both online and on campus, so the ability to adapt is vital, and will be an essential component in decision-making as institutions transform.


The emergence of technical trends, educational environments, and teaching strategies, higher education is leveraging these developments to make the most of students’ learning experiences and choices. The future of higher education is leading more to curricula reform offering more multi-disciplinary programs in STEM majors or cross-disciplinary programs, finding balance between non-traditional learning (i.e. MOOC's or distant learning) with traditional learning, investing in technology and apps, recreating space for increased class sizes, and finding unique ways to increase retention and enrollment rates. The future in maintaining the balance of non-traditional and traditional learning is adopting to innovated or contemporary pedagogical approaches while retaining the foundation of traditional methods.

Institutions who adopt and embrace transformation have the opportunity to support learning beyond the classroom and provide a healthy collegiate life experience for students. With the future of higher education evolving rapidly, there is potential to expand or improve learning outcomes and redefining the institution's accountability and responsibility to students and the community. There is no absolute way of knowing the future of higher education or make certain an institutions success in the future, but the objective is to empower students, establish an inclusive environment, and strengthen transfer.