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What serving adult learners can teach us: the entrepreneurial response

Change - January 1, 2003

In 2000, I was fortunate enough to be a Management and Leadership in Education fellow in Harvard University's Institute for Higher Education, offered each summer to college administrators. During the two-week session, we were introduced to a large and stimulating array of readings and speakers, however, there was a special level of energy and engagement on the morning that Laura Palmer Noone, then provost of the University of Phoenix (UOP), was the guest speaker. (She is now UOP's president). Although my classmates didn't attack her outright during her presentation, they were certainly ready to challenge almost every aspect of her institution. Where they had been reserved and respectful in their interaction with other speakers, there was a palpable level of intensity during this session. Participants sat on the edges of their seats. They vied with their classmates to ask the next question or make the next observation. It was electric! There was never another moment during the Institute when everyone was quite so passionate.

We discovered that the majority of UOP students are not pursuing their studies via distance learning (perhaps the leading misconception about the institution). We learned that UOP had created a faculty development program for adjunct faculty that should be the envy of any institution. We learned that UOP had not only passed (with high marks) the almost-annual accreditation visits that it has experienced since it was founded, but that it also must conform to regulations set out by the New York Stock Exchange (a challenge that most of our schools never think of, let alone face).

After her presentation, I spoke with the president of my institution (Baldwin-Wallace College) who readily agreed that I should ask Noone to make a presentation on our campus to leaders and members of the community. I knew that UOP was scheduled to open a campus soon in the Cleveland area where we are located, and I assumed she might be in town for the event. She graciously accepted our invitation and generously gave two versions of her presentation on our campus: one for department chairs and campus leaders (as part of a dinner program) and one the next day to the broader community. Here I observed the same level of intensity I had experienced at Harvard--the near animosity expressed by good people in the audience who seemed to be visibly offended by what they heard.

On both occasions, I was impressed with how well Noone handled the hostility expressed by some of my classmates and colleagues. But I was also impressed by the nature of the enmity itself. This may have been the first moment I realized fully what a threat the notion of entrepreneurialism is to so many in the academy. Upon consideration, I came to understand that UOP represents something that runs contrary to many (if not all) of their preconceptions about the role and mission of the academy. But I also came to understand better how those of us who are trying to serve adult learners--even in traditional institutions--have been acting out this kind of entrepreneurialism, and some of the things we can teach our colleagues.

WHY CONSIDER ENTREPRENEURIALISM?

The academy and its members have long been unenthusiastic about entrepreneurialism. Indeed, the term is often used pejoratively on campus to denounce any new idea that threatens to change the culture of the ivory tower--even if it's practical or cost effective, and even when it's likely to protect (or at least sustain) at-risk departments and programs.

Entrepreneurial notions have historically been so separated from the academic domain that many faculty members eschew, or even publicly denounce, what seems to be an increasing emphasis on such base considerations by administrators, recruiters, and marketers. In many ways, this tension underscores the elitist nature in some parts of the academy. This, in turn, sets up conflicts on campus that are not likely to be resolved to the satisfaction of those seeking to maintain the status quo. After all, until very recently, higher education had been reserved for the privileged few.

Such tensions are just as apparent at the individual level. For every innovative professor who uses new media, scheduling formats, and pedagogical approaches in his or her classroom, there is a colleague on the same campus who relies on his or her same yellowed, handwritten notes he or she has been lecturing from for the past 20 years. This is the equivalent, in today's culture, of a company making and selling typewriters. Not only is the product outdated, but this approach reflects an insensitivity to the market. Those who follow it haven't made any attempt to understand their students' needs and orientations, and they are under-utilizing their own resources and potential. While their "typewriter" remains a wonderful machine, it is incompatible with the world we now live in.

So change is at the very heart of this conflict--a sea change of such proportions that it is already impacting virtually every institution of higher learning in America. The evidence is pervasive and ubiquitous. In the new knowledge-based society that defines the 21st century, every campus probably is experiencing some degree of tumultuous change. Since, for many institutions, this is uncharted territory, successful models of entrepreneurial behavior--like those associated with adult degree-completion programs--may deserve special consideration.

FROM "ENDGAME" TO LIFELONG LEARNING

Until recently, higher education has relied on an "endgame" system. Once a learner completes a degree program, he or she moves to a different status such as graduate education or a career. Today, everyone is expected to continue learning throughout his or her entire life. In general, when a person stops pursuing new learning, he or she is likely to become stagnant and--based on the resulting loss of proficiencies--is no longer considered current or marketable. It is curious, therefore, that some of our colleagues apparently do not see the need to remain current themselves.

Historically, the academy has been built upon foundations that have proven reliable and stable: institutional missions, the nature of the students served, the curriculum, and the role of the professoriate. Additions and changes now challenge every assumption built into this model. In part, this is due to the transforming influence of technology. And, in large part, these changes are the manifestations of market-driven initiatives emerging from unparalleled competition among institutions of higher learning and the emergence of new markets.

When the practical shift took place from endgame to lifelong learner, the number of potential students grew exponentially. The result has been a burgeoning number of adult learners. Today, some estimates suggest that as many as 47 percent of all students enrolled in higher education are over 25 years old. In the future, as lifelong learning becomes more integrated into the fabric of our culture, the proportion of adult students is expected to increase. And while we may not yet realize it, the academy is already being transformed as a result.

Two new developments illustrate this transformation: the growing number of for-profit institutions and the emergence of corporate universities. While for-profit institutions challenge the very foundation of higher education, many established universities have created their own dot-com subsidiaries (though some have learned the hard way that this can be a risky and expensive undertaking).

Corporate universities are another new option that has emerged to serve adult learners. The number of for-profit companies seeking to gain portions of the higher education market through strong business plans and a dedication to customer service continues to grow. Together, they are shaping a new entrepreneurial institutional model based less on tradition than on responsiveness, economic competitiveness, and technology.

In this competitive, high-stakes environment, there are certain to be "winners" and "losers." Some institutions will go out of business. Competitors will absorb others in much the same manner as conglomerates have bought out "mom and pop" businesses and farms. Survival will demand a similar entrepreneurial response from any academic institution that hopes to flourish in the future. What may be significantly different about the emerging century is that no part of the academy is exempt.

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