The Future of Higher Education

That was the headline for the lead story in Inside Education yesterday. Many of us have been nervously waiting for the intensity of attention focused on K-12 to turn to higher ed. The other shoe has fallen. The story, carried in both the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Education is about the new commission that Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has just announced.

Ms. Spellings made the announcement at a speech at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte on Monday. Calling the commission “A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education,” the purpose is to ”develop a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education.” The commission will specifically focus on rising enrollments, declining affordability, and colleges’ role in America’s global competitiveness.

The Commission will hold its first meeting in Washington, DC in October followed by four others around the country.

So, is this good news or bad news? It is good news in that we will get some information about the relationship between rising costs and rising enrollments. We might also find out something more about our global competitiveness. But a question that niggles at me is whether or not we will get substantive information about the shifting infrastructure of higher education. Will we really tackle such issues as the changing financial structure, the shifting roles for faculty, the revitalization of undergraduate learning—all issues that we have talked about as serious problems for higher education? Or will the commission only superficially look at higher education? Dodge the bullet, so to speak. And, perhaps more important, which is better?