Remaking College The Changing Ecology of Higher Education [Hardcover]

Between 1945 and 1990 the United States built the largest and most productive higher education system in world history. Over the last two decades, however, dramatic budget cuts to public academic services and skyrocketing tuition have made college completion more difficult for many. Nevertheless, the democratic promise of education and the global competition for educated workers mean ever growing demand.

Remaking Collegeconsiders this changing context, arguing that a growing accountability revolution, the push for greater efficiency and productivity, and the explosion of online learning are changing the character of higher education.

Writing from a range of disciplines and professional backgrounds, the contributors each bring a unique perspective to the fate and future of U.S. higher education. By directing their focus to schools doing the lion's share of undergraduate instructioncommunity colleges, comprehensive public universities, and for-profit institutionsthey imagine a future unencumbered by dominant notions of traditional students, linear models of achievement, and college as a four-year residential experience. The result is a collection rich with new tools for helping people make more informed decisions about collegefor themselves, for their children, and for American society as a whole.

By adopting an ecological viewpoint, the authors' analyses go beyond higher-education institutions themselves to illustrate how evolving economic, political, demographic and technological changes in the society that surrounds those institutions have forced changes in the meaning ofcollege education. . . I found the authors' arguments persuasively supported with reasoning and evidence. I believe the book can serve as an important stimulant of thought for people who are concerned with the development of post-secondary education in any modern-day nation. As the CEO of a 'broad access' institution, I am heartened that this volume and its aulN