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Implications for Faculty the faculty member, the less value and claim tenure will hold. As the courses of superstars are “unplugged” and of- Joint appointments and regular movement between the acad- fered on-line by for-profit companies worldwide, fac- emy and industry will increase as lines blur between inde- ulty teaching roles will change and there will be a pendent and sponsored research, knowledge discovery, and decoupling of faculty from particular institutions. knowledge transfer. The traditional control faculty exert over the curriculum design may become moot as colleges buy Conclusion “Arthur Miller on a disk” or off-the-shelf products from These trends and their impact on American higher education brand-name curriculum factories like Amherst, Brown, or are likely to continue unless and until the higher education mar- Williams. The strongest institutions will be these producers ket responds negatively to runaway costs among high-end pro- and wholesalers—the curriculum factories of the superstars. viders, to commercialization and profit motive in higher education, The rest will be the retailers with slimmer margins and greater or to less-personalized, technology-driven delivery systems. None dependency. While most faculty will become facilitators of of these scenarios seem likely as long as the frontrunners, trend these “world-class courses,” the faculty who provide the in- setters, and price leaders accumulate a greater advantage, or un- tellectual capital for these ventures may become free agents less and until a demonstrable, empirical case can be made that teaching at hundreds of colleges and universities at once for any of these developments threaten the quality of higher educa- extraordinary income from royalties or licenses. The richer tion as gauged by any of its constituencies.
The Challenge of Lifelong Learning for Higher Education
Barbara M. Kehm Barbara M. Kehm is on the staff of the Institute for Higher Education shift from teaching to learning and from supply to Research, University of Halle-Wittenberg, Collegienstr. 626, 06886 demand in educational provisions. Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany. Fax: +49 – 3491 – 466 255. E- mail:
Now more than ever, as centers of The Concept of Lifelong Learning knowledge production and dissemina- upranational organizations like the OECD, UNESCO, and, tion, higher education institutions are in particular, the European Union are currently strongly S expected to play an important role in promoting the concept of lifelong learning as a complement to the emergence of the “knowledge” society and the various the provision and delivery of lifelong social, economic, and educational changes it seems to entail. learning opportunities. Many national governments in Europe have adopted the is- sue and given it a much more prominent position on their political agendas. Now more than ever, as centers of A recently completed research project about the knowledge production and dissemination, higher education implications of lifelong learning for universities in the EU, institutions are expected to play an important role in the analyzing and comparing lifelong learning policies and provision and delivery of lifelong learning opportunities. practices in seven EU member states, has revealed consid- Within the context of lifelong learning, new objec- erable gaps between the rhetoric about and actual imple- tives of education are being addressed. Beyond personal mentation of lifelong learning. These gaps are due to development with a reference to the individual, there are high expectations combined with a number of concep- also additional objectives like social cohesion (in reference tual dilemmas and inconsistencies in developing relevant to society) and economic growth (in reference to market policies. forces). Although a variety of interpretations are connected to the concept of lifelong learning, its core characteristics Dilemmas and Inconsistencies can be summarized as follows: a strong emphasis on the The inconsistencies in lifelong learning as a concept de- intrinsic rather than the instrumental value of education rive from the fact that it is supposed to serve a number of and learning; universal access to learning opportunities; contradictory objectives: as an instrument to enhance de- recognition of learning in diverse settings and not only in mocratization, equality of opportunity, and social cohesion educational institutions; learning throughout the lifespan; and as a way to improve the development of human re- a diversity of methods of teaching and learning and modes sources (in EU policy terminology, “employability”) in re- of delivery unlike conventional education; a shift in em- sponse to the demands of globalization and economic phasis from learning substance to learning process; and a competitiveness. These dual aims of promoting equal- 6 INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION
ity and enhancing competitiveness not only interfere ees. Thus, the core functions of a curriculum will likely be- with the traditional notions of a university education dedi- come the transmission and appropriation of transferable skills cated to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge and and competences that can be widely used and applied truth, it is also doubtful that these aims can be realized at The shift from knowledge to (transferable) the same time and in the same institutional setting without skills parallels the shift from content to process. This compromising one or the other. implies a more action-oriented concept of knowledge in which issues of “learning to learn”—understanding one’s own learning processes and identifying knowledge gaps and progress—will move into the foreground. The devel- The concept of knowledge within the frame- opment of skills for learning seems to be a reaction to the growing obsolescence of established knowledge, which work of lifelong learning is informed by at seems to be one of the key features of knowledge in the least three different value patterns. information society. This shift in focus from knowledge to skills will also create new roles for teachers and learners. Teachers’ expertise in higher education will no longer rest solely upon The concept of knowledge within the framework advanced specialist knowledge grounded primarily in dis- of lifelong learning is informed by at least three different cipline-based study and research but also upon an under- value patterns: a democratic concept of knowledge to en- standing of learning processes and the ability to convey hance social inclusion, cohesion and participation; an eco- the tranferability of their knowledge to a range of prob- nomic concept of knowledge that serves income lems outside the academic world. Teachers will become generation, wealth creation, and global competitiveness; “facilitators,” helping learners to become “reflective prac- and a concept of knowledge in which knowledge produc- titioners.” Not only will “knowing” be conceptualized as tion in itself forms the point of departure. various forms of action (problem solving, decision making, It might be said, therefore, that lifelong learning etc.), but it will also cut through traditional distinctions tends to contribute to the fragmentation of knowledge, between theory and practice, knowledge and skills. while at the same time enhancing the appropriation of These are but a few of the implications of lifelong learn- knowledge by individual learners. ing and the new concepts of knowledge linked to it. If knowl- edge becomes a substantially more social and more directly Implications for Higher Education economic production, what can, should, or must universities do The concept of lifelong learning and related policies have to secure their institutional and functional survival? a number of implications for the structure of higher educa- tion institutions and the organization of knowledge. Cre- Lifelong Learning as Threat or Challenge? ating more learning opportunities for new and different The European comparative study about the implications categories of students means that students will no longer of lifelong learning for universities has shown one clear all start from a broadly shared knowledge base but will trend in all seven of the countries included. Regardless instead have acquired their knowledge from multiple of the varying extent to which traditional notions of con- sources and diverse types and fields of knowledge (family, tinuing (professional) education are integrated and ac- work experience, etc.). The idea of exempting students from cepted within the frameworks of university education, certain parts of a degree program—piloted in France and institutions typically tend to react to the new challenges the United Kingdom—by accrediting their learning outside linked to the concept of lifelong learning and its impli- the academic system implies a shift toward varied and, to cations for the organization of knowledge in two ways. some extent, externally determined definitions of what con- On the one hand, they realize that rejecting the idea of stitutes a curriculum and, more importantly, a degree. lifelong learning has become “politically incorrect” and Accreditation of work-based and experiential learn- have adopted it on a policy level. In the absence of any ing threatens the legitimacy of knowledge organization in real leadership, however, institutions often struggle with universities by replacing the regulating powers of disci- lack of structures, funds, and incentives. The demand plines and collegiality with multidisciplinary, dynamic, and to implement the new concepts linked to the idea of more transient forms of knowledge formation. This shift is lifelong learning is often met by rhetoric and a simple reinforced by the requirement that universities develop de- replacement of the term “continuing education” by that mand-led provisions of lifelong learning rather than continu- of “lifelong learning” without any change in practices ing to offer supply-led forms, or—as is the case in Norway and provisions. On the other hand, many diverse pilot and Sweden—providing educational services that have been projects, experiments, and new models are integrating contracted or commissioned by companies for their employ- the concept of lifelong learning into university programs 7
and making it part of the structure of tertiary educa- to rely on their established quota systems for older stu- tion. Examples include the United Kingdom and France, dents. Despite continuing skepticism among academic which are quite advanced in the development of proce- teachers, the issue of lifelong learning has become part dures to recognize and accredit work-based learning; of the ongoing reform agenda in Europe, part of efforts Germany, which has numerous special university pro- universities are undertaking to improve their interac- visions for senior citizens; Greece, which has established tion and cooperation with their environment and with an open university; and Sweden and Norway, which tend a wider range of external stakeholders.
Should Universities in Developing Countries Stop Doing R&D?
Armando Alcantara entific production. This is not surprising given its low Armando Alcantara is professor at the Center for University Studies, investment in R&D. Public expenditures in R&D of all Latin Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He is a visiting scholar American countries are equivalent to the expenses in R&D of in the Center for International Higher Eduation at Boston College during the 2000–2001 academic year. Address: CIHE, Campion Hall, merely a couple of multinational corporations. In Argentina Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 USA. and Mexico–the countries in the region that (along with E-mail: