Reinventing Higher Education

The inspiration for this timely book is the pressing need for fresh ideas and innovations in U.S. higher education. At the heart of the volume is the realisation that higher education must evolve in fundamental ways if it is to respond to changing professional, economic, and technological circumstances, and if it is to successfully reach and prepare a vast population of students—traditional and non-traditional alike—for success in the coming decades.

This collection of provocative articles by leading scholars, writers, innovators, and university administrators examines the current higher education environment and its chronic resistance to change; the rise of for-profit universities; the potential future role of community colleges in a significantly revised higher education realm; and the emergence of online learning as a means to reshape teaching and learning and to reach new consumers of higher education.

Combining trenchant critiques of current conditions with thought-provoking analyses of possible reforms and new directions, Reinventing Higher Education is an ambitious exploration of possible future directions for revitalised American colleges and universities.

Ben Wildavsky is a senior fellow in research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation. His most recent book is The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World. His writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, the New Republic, and many other publications.

Andrew P. Kelly is a research fellow in education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. His writings have appeared in Teachers College Record, Educational Policy, Policy Studies Journal, Education Next, Education Week, and Forbes.

Kevin Carey is a policy director at Education Sector. His writings have appeared in Washington Monthly, the New Republic, the American Prospect, Democracy, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, InsideHigherEd, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.