The problems of universities Part 3

If I need a new training course, I can order it from the manufacture. What I need is Tutors-navigators, helping my customers-students to build and place individual educational trajectory in the interests of my customers-employers.

The only thing I miss — recognized by the market the confirmation of the competence of my students, which would provide recognition of my competencies by educational navigation and recruiting. If there was a single universally accepted system of graduated assessment of knowledge/competence that would qualify an independent training center that is trusted by the labor market, I could confidently demonstrate that their graduates as successful cases. In addition, on the same system I could monitor my students that left me, and any other professionals with close to me profile, for which we can be mutually beneficial at any time.

Now I’m old school with the wharves and steamers

Traditional structure:

• singled out at the expense of human, technical and capital resources the center for evaluation of skills;
• form the Studio to create the network and set up courses from the best professors to create courses in network logic, explain to them the dubious prospect of the traditional focus on lectures/seminars by the hour;
• form the organizational and financial conditions for the reorientation of lecture and seminar activities in education separately (the creation of courses as an independent publishing house) and support (assistance in development of courses, navigation, formation of individual educational programs);
• guided by the abandonment of entrance examinations — I need all who are willing to learn my programs;
• together with employers and charismatic professors organize regular series of wow events to attract students, not forgetting the probable age of the customers;
• develop relationships with possible employers in the field of their competence, find out their needs and prepare a mutually beneficial contracts, including corporate training, including in the form of distance courses made by my studios and professors;
• frantically thinking about how to monetize a huge number of audiences, of which begin to go into the network students.

Turn the universities into a universal repair shop?

Good question. In order not to reduce the intensity, ask another: a cost called “University” group auto-, led-, photo-workshops, to now revoke the license? Not only was the universities were institutions, technical schools… But someone came up with new rules based on funding from the title and away we go.

If you look back, it is worth noting that the University was a place of concentration of substantial information and key specialists. Today it is not so. Information online a surplus. Key experts did not always work directly with students, and work with the students is not always the key.

Often they are specialists for the presentation in the classroom has long been known and even outdated information without personal critical experience. Sometimes outlining is boring.

It is important to realize and openly declare that higher education tends to be utilitarian nature of access to the labor market. Today, fewer and fewer places where you can work without a diploma. Although all of the formation of a standard for it knowledge required for such work. And the programs themselves are quite inert with respect to the changes in life. If there was no complaints about the weak academic skills of the graduates, one could consider it a social contribution to the culture of the nation. And so all turns out logically that is not in demand, and is not mastered. Only wasted time and resources on maintenance. Not useless, but ineffective.

The customer with the ideological values of the other: not so much production, how much science. These pupils and those clients competence not hurt, but they are not focused on competency and holistic knowledge and ambition in his revision. You can talk about it in the language of competencies, but it is constructive.

Here for the worldview of the client (student and employer) need universities with academic approaches and ambitions. Nothing prevents them to be too virtual and even they can the same flexible universities.

But educational programs should be built on other principles than for mass market work. While distance learning courses for them can work not worse. Reflection should be based on other grounds and to pass in other circumstances with other people.

A hint of futurism in conclusion

To a greater extent than in demand as carriers of cognitive approaches, the less relevant the task of reformatting under the competence values. Perhaps naturally that is, these universities remain on the market under the heading “the University” and will continue the tradition this word to designate the place of concentration of the intellectual elite. Or will crystallize as small, separate structures, as the demand Outlook is significantly lower than on competence. And the other universities successful in wiping out company, combining the most effective manner the tasks of competence based training and distribution of graduates in the labor market.

In the long run, cognitive and competency based approaches will divorce at the level of individual courses, not organizations. I as a student can study some courses in one logic and another. On your own taste. Under its own mood. Under the standard request: I can urgently need workplace – specific competencies and at the same time I can worry about the laws of the universe in his spare time. And then this sacred knowledge can feed me better than the previously obtained specific competence. Or I’m going to build a specific competence on the basis of the sacred knowledge.

The life of code site, and education should help me in the most saturated her residence.

And I don’t need the walls of the University. I need guides and directories opportunities. What is more convenient and better learning options will offer me the brands, the more likely they will conquer me. Perhaps it will be UBER fit me to a comfortable place and a catalog and guide. And cognitive tasks I might prefer something well-proven type known today, the University’s brands, even if they have to go in Gory.