Changing Higher Education

Coveting the US model of higher education? Be careful what you wish for

This the title of a post I just wrote for the new Higher Education Network page of the Guardian. Readers of ChangingHigherEducation will find some of my favorite themes in this post. Check it out! 

Christensen on disruptive innovation in higher education

Regular readers of this blog know how often I call upon Clayton Christensen's ideas regarding disruptive innovation as described in The Innovators Dilemma. Christensen has now turned his focus to higher education in a superb, must read white paper called Disrupting College:How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Qualityand Affordability to Postsecondary Education , published by the Center for American Progress and the Innosight Institute. The report is coauthored with Michael B. Horn, Louis Soares, and Louis Caldera. This white paper does a great job of succinctly describing the challenges and issues facing American higher education today, outlining the concepts of disruptive innovation, and then applying those concepts to higher education.  

Going Global

The British Council recently held its annual Going Global conference in Hong Kong, the first time it had held the conference outside of Britain. Inside Higher Ed has several interesting articles describing the conference (Global Comparisons, Evolving Higher Ed Hubs, How Asian are Asian Universities?).  

The Chronicle of Higher Education published an interesting interview with Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council, regarding the importance of holding the conference in Asia.  In that interview, Davidson made several related points that I think deserve emphasis and comment.