University Business - August 2006 - (Page 37)

FUTURE SHOCK Coming Soon: CommUniversities Schools that compete may in the future become schools that collaborate. By James Martin and James E. Samels F programs or conducted feasibility assess- O R THE MOST PART, THE ments to do so. general public perceives major By the early 1990s community and universities and small community technical colleges, pressed by students, colleges as traveling in different aca- employers, and guidance counselors, demic circles. began an active exploration of bachelor In fact, most folks within the higher degree completion options. ed industry see the food chain on a ver- St u d e n t s and parents increasingly tical plane. The spectrum begins at the would ask about the availability of a developmental, postsecondary level in bachelor degree completion option at community, technical, county, or mu- the two-year college where students nicipal colleges and takes a big jump up spent their two most formative years of to major research universities. the undergraduate learning experience. Fast-for ward to 2010, when Ameri- Junior colleges now bear can higher education will be transform- little resemblance to TODAY 'S TWOYEAR SCHOOLS i n g competitors into collaborators their pure two-year The number of two-year junior colleges mission complementary, mutual growth, has now dwindled to less than 100. Sadly, win/win strategic alliances rather than college heritage. the overwhelming majority of junior battling in state capitals throughout the colleges have fallen by the wayside or many of these programs had to be liq- nation. merged, consolidated, or restructured uidated, with difficult teach-outs offered Some of us can still remember a time bearing little resemblance to their pure in their place. Small wonder that these when junior colleges were actually in two-year college heritage. colleges were disinclined to rely on the vogue. Incredible though it may sound, Still other two-year colleges latched regional university center strategy. there were approximately 330 junior on to a two-plus-two baccalaureate For their part, junior colleges recog- colleges in America in 1955. In the fol- completion strategy, aimed at preserving nized the practical advantages of inviting lowing decades, many of these colleges their primary two-year college mission geographically proximate senior college either closed or drifted away from their and building several new bachelor degree and university partners to complete the founding missions as new market forces completion options in fields of academic baccalaureate option. and opportunities arose. excellence, faculty strength, curriculum Eventually, surrounding senior col- By the late `60s and early `70s, pri- rigor, and, importantly, student need and l e g e s and universities recognized the vate two-year women's colleges were be- employment demand. merit in reducing recruitment and infra- ginning to consider co-ed options. Soon structure costs by leveraging community field hockey would be joined by football college capacity, while retaining control as campus cultures were broadened, en- James Martin is a professor at Mount Ida Col- over academic integrity, reputation, and riched, and made more diverse. lege Mass. . James E. Samels is president and quality of instruction. In the 1980s a number of regional CEO of The Education Alliance. Their book In the `80s, most private junior col- university learning centers cropped up is Presidential Transition in Higher Educa- leges dropped the pejorative junior throughout the nation. Unable to sus- tion: Managing Leadership Change Johns and either established bachelor degree tain cohort size and enrollment scale, Hopkins University Press, 2004 . www.universitybusiness.com August 2006 | 37 73 ddni.kchSuF MP 61:71:1 60/42/7 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - August 2006

Contents
College Index
Advisory Board
Company Index
Editor's Note
People Watch
Sense of Place
Stats Watch
Viewpoint
Financial Aid
On the Hill
Admissions
Future Shock
An Education in AV Technology
Retention Intentions
Endowment Management
Good Data In, Good Data Out
Sticking with the Tried & True
Home, Sweet Home
Faculty Issues in Online Education
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - August 2006