Universities: The Future – Some Predictions

I research European Higher Education Policy and work in a field of Higher Education which necessitates engagement with policy in the sector.  So I thought I might do some speculations on the future of HE and what we can see happening over the next few years. 

-       Students – application numbers to go down but actual acceptance will not go down massively following the introduction of the new funding regime.  Arts/Humanities will be particularly hit but those subjects with clear professional destinations like law/medicine will not suffer. 

-       2 year degrees or short, intensive programmes are going to become more common as people cannot afford to study in traditional forms. 

-       International – physical student mobility to decrease but off-sure provision to increase with a particular innovation in e-learning provision.  The EU may lead some of the funding to encourage this. 

-       University mission – not all universities will do everything.  Some universities will focus on research, others will become teaching-only.  There will be inconsistencies across universities with some departments being research active, others teaching only. 

-       Universities will increasingly be focussed on a more limited number of subjects where they can specialise. 

-       Funding – Commercial sponsorship is not a reliable way forward.  UK Business sees University’s as being state-supported so why should they?  Funding will increase in these areas but the use of the third sector (NGOs, charities) and public sector can grow in research as they cannot always have their own research functions. 

-       University – Mergers are to be likely.  As always during periods of growth, there has been a growth in the number of providers.  Now things are economically tighter, mergers will happen so that universities become an economically viable model and there are some obvious mergers out there.  And mergers with Further Education colleges are going to happen and closer relations with private colleges could be anticipated.  Indeed, we could see cross-European mergers starting.  I am aware of some German-Dutch companies which are providers in each country but with local quality adherence, language and delivery.  Why couldn’t we woke more closely with some of our EU partners?

-       University – Cross-European collaboration will continue to be important to bring in new skills and make use of more favourable funding regimes.  Ascension of some countries will be particularly encouraged and included if funding applications are to be successful.   The same is true of mobility/joint academic student programmes. 

The nature and role of the University is changing in our society and in many senses all of this is guesswork but it will be interesting to see what if this is true 1, 2, 5 or even 10 years out.  My career path and sector is changing, like everyone else’s, but the need for Higher Education remains consistent.