Session A: Changes in University Organisation and Structure |
Yves Epelboin: Approach to new technologies of Information and Communication for Higher Education: the Cultural paradigm |
The economical model of American universities is the for-profit enterprise. It does not mean that their main objective is to make money and to distribute the benefits to the owners, most do not, but the permanent objective of an active President is to find funds to pay for all the activities, teaching as well as research, finding partners willing to donate to the institution and trying to attract the best students. US universities are market oriented. All universities, including State and non-profit universities must compete to find the funds necessary to maintain and develop their activities thus they must enlarge their basin of recruitment and enroll as many students as possible. Courses will be opened when the demand is large enough. They must react to their local environment and always must give the best image of themselves. Students are customers. The use of new technologies may help in making the difference with others institutions in the area to attract young people and donations from sponsors.
One must also have in mind the fact that the number of students already engaged in the professional life is very high in the US. It is expected that, in 2002, 70% of the students will be part time only. Classical students engaged in primary education will become a minority. One of the reasons might be the fact that learning is very expensive and most students cannot afford to stay in the university for many years. These new students cannot be permanently on the campus and learning from distance or, more simply, being in touch with the teachers and having access to the documents, is very appreciated and becomes necessary.
The offer of technical courses on the Web aimed towards the industry and responding to its dramatic needs of permanent education for its staff will attract funds needed for the development of the Institution. Innovation, thus NTIC, gives the image of a dynamic institution and is a positive factor in this permanent competition. Answering to the demand of the customers is a question of survival for US universities and the use of NTIC may be justified for this reason only.
This for-profit model means that universities are organized as independent companies. The strategy is decided at the local level, which explains why the autonomy of US universities is much higher than the autonomy of their European counterpart. Diploma is granted locally which is quite confusing for us: a bachelor degree, for instance, in a European country, has approximately the same meaning in all universities. It is not the case in US universities where one finds, under the same label, a large variety of knowledge levels, varying form one university to another one and from one department to another. It also means that each institution is free to decide what a diploma means, how to deliver it and how to control the level of the students. This system works all right; employers understand this very well and know perfectly which are the best diplomas in their field. Dramatic changes such as the use of NTIC may be introduced without disturbing the system since there is no standardization for the diploma. Innovation thus NTIC is a plus since it allows attracting new categories of students and allows to the demand of all customers, industry as well as young people.
A good part of the funding, in US universities, comes from the students. The fees are very high, also in State universities, at a level, which seldom exists in Europe except in business schools and a few others. American universities have spent huge amounts of money for wiring the classrooms and the dormitories. Students have access to the network from everywhere, thus it is normal, in the US, to consider that the ownership of a microcomputer is mandatory. Teachers are required to put their courses, or at least documents, on the web. Part of the teachers only use it in an innovative way having written interactive courses and using the facilities for electronic classrooms and examinations. This would not exist if the basic infrastructure, network and personal computers, were not present.
Today American universities are introducing wireless classrooms. Students will be required to bring their own laptop. The university will not provide any machine in the library or in the classroom! However, it seems that the technique is running ahead, preceding the demand. Innovation is coming first and professors must now imagine the best ways to make the best use of it. American universities are innovation driven, not only for pedagogical reasons, but also because of their business model.
To summarize, the US attitude is that the use of NTIC is expected to be good: - to enhance the efficiency of teaching - to attract customers and to be able to respond to the demand of part time students - to give a good image of the institution and to find sponsors. It also responds to the demand of politicians for a better mass education. It is expected that NTIC are a good part of the answer but there is no definitive answer to this question. It is quite a challenge. One must keep in mind the fact that the private companies engaged in the teaching business which are the most successful and which challenge conventional universities in the most demanded fields are using classical means, i.e. conventional teaching, home work and paper!
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