A Study On Higher Education

The topic of this paper is the states’ decreasing financial support of higher education, the reaction and response from institutions who have lost funding, and the creative ways public institutions are locating additional streams of revenue. States have been the primary backer of public institutions, but since the recession states have shown less commitment financially while still heavily regulating higher education. As a result some institutions have had to change their practices while others have challenged their state’s regulations all together. Many have speculated that state funding may never return to its former highs. Rather than make an enemy of the state, some schools have discovered new and unconvential ways of raising funds for their institution.

Access to higher education must be equitable for all citizens; based on the principle of merit regardless of gender, religion, ethnic or social economic background. The limitations to this must not enshroud the government’s responsibility of planning for higher education. In a case study, the Israelite government developed a policy in that has since 1990 doubled the number of students in higher education. Some of the key elements the policy encapsulates are; limiting the undergraduate enrolment at research universities while ensuring the majority of undergraduate students study in academic colleges awarding a Bachelor’s degree.

An Overview of American Higher Education (Baum, 2013) focuses on the evolving definition of a “college” over the past fifty years. Over this time period, colleges have made changes from focusing on academia discipline to job preparation (Baum, 2013). The expected length of time to obtain a college degree as change as well. The term college encompasses four-year tracks, community colleges, certificate programs and half-time attendance, where a degree can be achieved at your own pace. In the 1960s America’s competitive edge was declining on a national scale and this encouraged a push for a more educated America. Furthermore, the expanding variety of post-secondary education opportunities grew from the idea that access to higher education should be more available, finically and geographically, to the population (Baum, 2013).

Students have hundreds of undergraduate degrees that they can explore from. Through each program, they will become experts in the fields they wish to pursue. In addition, students have hundreds of clubs and organizations that they can join to make connections because as a university, we see the importance of creating well-rounded students. In addition, we seek to educate our students by providing them a foundation of broad disciplinaries and enforcing practices that will help them succeed in school and in the workforce. Furthermore, we pride ourselves on turning our students into future leaders for their communities and for the nation as a whole. We believe that our job is to foster the growth of each individual student and to help students constantly learn each and every day while accounting for their own unique lives and goals. Thus, our ultimate mission is to allow our students to reach their fullest potential as soon as they enter our

A good change to the education system that would increase the capabilities of graduate students would be specialization. Specialization mean a student would not have to take advanced classes that focus in areas other than the student’s desired major. This would improve student productivity, increase overall levels of happiness, and increase the aptitude of students arriving in their classes for their major. The idea of specialization in high schools would create students who are eager to learn, coming out of college prepared for their occupation.

The progression of higher education has lead us past classroom education in the strictest sense to ideas of the overall student experience and globalization. As the demand for access to education continues to transform from the historical profile of white male student bodies, we have shifted to a noble yet ambiguous idea of diversity. How an institution shows variety is relative, essentially there is no real defining point other than, different. Diversification of participants in the institution 's community cannot be staged in the sense of having an equal 10% distribution of people in multiple groups that fit into popular groups such as racial minorities, women, homosexual, and disabled people. This does provide an element of categorizing differences but it limits institutions to marking a check box as opposed experiencing real value. A recent New York times articles provides a glimpse at the darker side of diversity and a disparaging opinion suggest that a small amount is enough (Holmes, 2015) however this is a categorical farce. Every point of distinction matters, experience matter, perspective matters, it all matters. All stakeholders including faculty, staff, and students benefit from diversity. This must be intentional and in line with the mission and vision of the organization. In kind, required resources include training, courses, extracurricular organizations, and campus activities.

Today, colleges and universities have assumed an important role far beyond their role in earlier times. Since the 20th century, economic and social changes have transformed higher education into a primary gateway to the middle-class, providing minorities and women with opportunities to advance against longstanding exclusion from mainstream higher education (Eckel & King, n.d.). Given the change, Americans now view access to higher education as a necessary component of the nation’s ideal as a “land of opportunity” (Eckel & King, n.d.). With this recently developed opportunity, jobs have demanded more knowledgeable and well-trained adults with the skills required to practice in a given profession, manage a wide variety of organizations, and complete an increasing proportion of tasks in a more technologically sophisticated economy (Eckel & King, n.d.; Bok, 2015). The wide spread of higher education opportunities has helped to strengthen America’s democracy by providing its future leaders knowledge and ideas to create new industries, protect us from disease, preserve and enrich our culture, and inform us about our history, our environment, our society, and ourselves (Bok, 2015).

American universities are the world’s best, producing excellent academic research and developing new technologies used across the globe. For this reason, universities of other countries have attempted to adapt their structure and approach to mirror the American model. Whether by adopting the American model of research-oriented education or by implementing mass higher education (as opposed to education for the elites), other nations are seeking to create world-class universities. This has created a global demand for college education where any university can potentially attract students from around the world. As such, colleges have become veritable cultural hubs of globalization, aggressively searching abroad for applicants and adapting organizational structures and images to better compete with the growing number of universities entering the international scene.

Outline some of the main issues facing higher education in the 21st century. To what extent is higher education an effective means of both obtaining employment and learning the basic prerequisite skills for the global workplace?

Higher education is generally referring to any form of education after secondary education. The industry of higher education has been established already for almost several centuries, and in contemporary times, this industry is indeed going to experience modifications on how the industry will function and continue on.

Choosing a right Graduate program in this competitive global educational environment can be a challenging endeavor. There are three main factors namely: Curriculum, Location and diversity of the student body that played a major role in my decision to choose Hertie School of Governance.

They need to realize that these individuals are putting their focusing their time towards improving their skills used in various or specific careers. These methods often times lead to a job much quicker than having to go to school for years and years. In addition, work experience is gained at an early age and helps to work up to higher paying jobs or promotions. This only shows that when it comes to making the decision of not taking higher education, all is not lost. There are countless opportunities that employers would be willing to give out for such people. Many careers require skills that must be learned through time and time of hands-on work and practice. TV’s Mike Rowe even says it’s not essential to attend an institution.

In today’s society, the field of higher education has drastically changed with advances in technology and shifts in the economy. As a result, universities and colleges continue to layoff employee and make budget cuts. As Greenwald (2012) states universities are entering an era of continuously “taking things away from people" (para 2). As a result, a drastic change in the design and implementation of teaching and curriculum must be addressed in the field of higher education. Universities should not be just a place to take out student loans to for pay a degree and graduate, but rather a place of involvement and engagement (Helfand, 2013). Therefore, a university’s framework must be re-designed and implemented, however, the perspective from which educators teach must also change. They should not be seen as just lecturers, but rather teachers who inspire, engage and involve their students. This would not only entail a few changes to a university’s curriculum but its entire institutional structure.

Currently, many students believe that attending to a prestigious university will lead to a more successful and satisfying career in today’s society. When senior students choose the university to attend for post-secondary education, there are other factors to consider that are far more important than the university ranking, such as the students major study, student-teacher ratio, location, and scholarship availability.

Higher education is an important, if not the most important aspect, in a country’s functions and abilities to fulfill current national needs and strive for a brighter future. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established in 1932. It was a poor country initially, with a small educational system comprising of only 12 schools and 700 students. Situation changed after 1938, when large amount of oil was discovered underground in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom became quite wealthy, leading to the accelerating development of this country’s educational system as well. Understanding the historical development of higher education in Saudi Arabia, evaluating the strength and weakness in different times, and knowing what an effective educational system should be are helpful in improving the level of higher education in Saudi Arabia, which is necessary for this country to constantly enhance its power in global competitions and keep a strong standing in the world.