Comments on: Higher Education is about to crash and burn, says Seth

By: John Colette

John Colette — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 04:46:56 +0000

Change is also mitigated at the level of internal verification. To be considered for an entry level position in Academia today you need a PhD – they also want academics to be “research active” even if that research is only functions to sustain the schema of professional rigour – the peer reviewed publication. It's possible to publish [particularly in the industries associated with the humanities] and to have never been read by an actual practitioner.

The experiences students seek – and in many ways the ones that are galvanising experiences in the undergraduate career – are often those least structured by the traditional academic process. Student centred learning – particularly in disciplines that have a high degree of industrial “craft” [let's take filmmaking as an example :-) ] are less able to be quantified as academic activity, in the way that it is understood to predicate research.

The university hasn't fundamentally changed since the middle ages, and in an age of increasing change, particularly in the domain of knowledge and its mediation – Universities are increasingly out of step with the world around them.

Academics are the last bunch to say wither “I don't really know” or moreover “I was wrong”. The culture [and its rewards] are inherently hierachical rather than service oriented. Change is disenfranchising for academics who value seniority acquired through often outmoded processes.

It does come back to the human level – people [not organisations] who “think differently”….

By: Andy Polaine

Andy Polaine — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:45:57 +0000

Hi Andrew - Yes, it's true, those huge monoliths do resist change, but
I think it's useful to bring it back down to the human level always.
Most people in those monoliths seem to desire change, but the thought
of the enormous effort involved or the lack of any real way of
thinking about what to do usually stymies it. Change in higher
education, for example, is the huge pile of washing up that we've all
let get mouldy and grim. Nobody wants to do it, but it's not going to
get any better. The paradox that I keep coming across is that most
people enjoy the results of change, but they hate the process of it
(just like learning...).

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:25:36 +0000

The tragedy is that lots of people are thinking radically about such things ... and there's some nice things happening (some of which you're involved with), but the highly bureaucratic monoliths will do almost anything to resist change, including the retrograde use of "change management" etc etc. Mind you, I'm more with Dylan Wilbanks on much of this ... http://m.smh.com.au/national/education/vote-of-... .. some of Seth's solutions I hear coming from the monolith as well ..