Larry D. Lauer

The Transition Academy: Seizing Opportunity in the Age of Disruption, is now available at… http://www.case.org/books

CASE Books is an educational publisher serving everyone involved in advancing educational institutions around the world. Today this includes professional advancement officers as well as institutional executives, faculty, staff and the many others who are concerned about the inevitable disruptions of a coming sea change in the industry.

Significant changes in government support, uses of technology, and the globalization of everything, are already underway. Government priorities are different in different countries. Some are focusing on building prestige, some on leading science and technology development, and others on generating and filling jobs. And a good number of these are likely to include overall funding cuts.

Digital technology is producing change inside institutions and out. New on-line programs are addressing unmet needs, and the best ones are solving many of their early quality problems. Technology is also changing how we teach and deliver educational experiences in traditional residential institutions. And simultaneously with all this the economic impact of globalization is changing most everything.

For the academy this goes well beyond study abroad. Undergraduate students will consider enrolling in institutions in many different places in the world. For example, US students will be able to study in English, experience other cultures, and pay no more than at home. The best faculty will have teaching opportunities in other parts of the world, and are likely to move several times during a career. Foundations and businesses that have focused their philanthropic interests locally will have new and enticing opportunities for international visibility and impact.

The question is not whether all this will happen, but how soon will it affect you? Therefore, planning for global change and preparing constituents for a new day should already be underway.