The Changing Role of Higher Education in the United States
- 1 January 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Research & Development
- Vol. 6 (2) , 99-108
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0729436870060202
Abstract
The role of higher education has changed in the United States. It has become a learning society where egalitarian pressures for equal opportunities led to the expansion of educational services to broader and more representative segments of society. Five propositions illustrate the current pressures for change. (1) Institutions of higher education no longer enjoy a monopoly on the provision of educational services. The learning society has given higher education new competition for the growing adult market. (2) The roles of education providers are increasingly blurred. (3) Higher education no longer has the full‐time commitment of students or of faculty. (4) Lifelong learning has become a lifelong necessity for almost everyone, which demands flexibility and responsiveness to change on the part of higher education. (5) A change is needed in the methods of teaching and learning to accommodate adult learners and to provide for the long‐ range needs of the learning society.Keywords
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