The Innovative University

Chapter 20New Models

As we've seen in the stories of Harvard and BYU-Idaho—and as media reports make clearer every day—technological and social change threatens to undermine the traditional university's dominance. The delivery of higher education to students is set to change in ways that will make the innovations of Charles Eliot and his Harvard successors pale by comparison. Moreover, the timetable will be measured in years rather than the decades that they had to work with. In the near future, high school students will receive promotional messages like this one:

• Instead of taking hyper-competitive AP courses and not-so-valuable electives next year, why not earn real college credit before you graduate from high school? You can start your ...