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It is a good sign that experts and thinkers are actually feeling bullish about our higher education potential. To be frank however all of them are worried about the future of our colleges and universities. Though there are many critics out there trying to project a grim picture, most of our institutions are quite well equipped to handle the unprecedented challenges faced by them.

There is no doubt that most of our universities are struggling to make ends meet as most of the cost cutting remedies advocated in 2008 such as state appropriations, tuition fee hikes, growing research portfolio and the endowment returns that are unnaturally bloated.

It was in 2012 that big universities like MIT and Harvard decided to go online in a big way. MOOC or Massive Open Online Courses were developed by the Stanford professors. These announcements were actual challenges to the traditional higher education system with a potential end to monopoly of information held by the professors. Our education system’s ingenuity and creativity will certainly be tested by the above threats.

Most of our universities and colleges are equipped to handle the task. There is a great effort to improve efficiency through different initiatives. They are all striving to tap new revenue sources by focusing on competitive niches. On the whole, there is greater acceptance that there is a problem and it has to be dealt with.

Traditional universities are no more laid back as they have decided to try out newer techniques and education models even as they remain loyal to their traditional values and mission. While some have decided on adopting innovative education technology and integrate the same with their existing model, some others are already a part of consortiums.

Hopefully, 2013 will be a better year for our higher education system. Moving forward, we will have to bring about a transformative change through new revenue sourcing and an open minded approach to innovation and change.

After 2009 when there was record number of undergraduate applications, subsequent growth has been almost zero. Universities must now look for a share from other American institutions or tap the foreign markets.

The situation today is you have to compete in order to win. Universities must look beyond their communities and make their presence felt in the global education marketplace. As usual, our critics keep downplaying the ability of our institutions to transform and perform at the global level. They are definitely wrong.
All we need to day is a few universities to stand up and meet their challenges with powerful growth plans. All other colleges will follow suit. In contrast to the grim view projected by critics, most of our universities are much more innovative and enterprising as they have proved time and again in the past.

Our higher education institutions will now focus more on winning a global competitive edge with strategic positioning. They will introduce fresh, new business models and technologies especially in the online space in order to achieve their goal.

Issues will now be socialized by leaders in order to create new stakeholder processes. This will also help prioritize and contextualize options and take inputs from a larger segment of society in their capacity to share in the planning process.