Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2019). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. Brill.

Altbach, Resiberg, and Rumbley prepared this report for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education. In section 13 of this report, they explore eight future trends that the postsecondary sector should keep an eye on and consider adapting to.

(estimated 10 minutes)

According to Altbach and Salmi (2011), 

for many universities globalization constitutes a challenge. The global academic marketplace for professors and students means that the best students and staff members can be enticed away. Overreliance on international core journals for promotion and research criteria may place professors in peripheral research universities at a disadvantage. Globalization tends to favor universities at the center over others; it does not necessarily contribute to the democratization of science and scholarship. (p.28)

Reduced public funding has pushed higher education institutions toward new sources of funding through privatization. However, privatization would be detrimental as abiding by market demands would reduce the quality and shift the focus of research away from basic research.

Especially following COVID-19, digital technology rose to the forefront of higher education. One definition of digital transformation is "leveraging digital technologies to enable major educational improvements, enhance learner and instructor experiences, and create new instructional models through policies, planning, partnerships, and support" (Martin and Xie, 2022). 

Digital transformation involves structural changes in organizational culture, leadership, employee roles and skills. Specifically, these changes include digital learning technologies, instructional modality, personnel and support services, organizational policies and planning, instructor development, learner development, and partnerships. 

The previous section highlighted a few current global issues. Listed below are a more, but these are non-exhaustive. 

1. Autonomy: "In an era of growing accountability, research universities will be challenged to maintain their management autonomy and to control their essential academic decision making" (Altbach and Salmi, 2011, p. 27).

2. Student Wellbeing

3. Climate Change and Sustainability

4. Increased focus on Applied Learning and Graduate Employability

5. Falling Enrollment Rates, Student Retention and Completion Rates

What are other global issues you expect will affect the modern research university. How do you think they will?

Altbach, P. G., & Salmi, J. (Eds.). (2011). The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities. World Bank Publications.

Altbach covers the past, present, and future of research universities in Chapter 1 and provides a 21st century global context and historical background, describes the characteristics of a research university and the special role of science and professors, explains the research university's impact on governance and leadership, and includes a case study of a quintessential U.S. public research university: the University of California system.

Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2019). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. Brill.

Altbach, Resiberg, and Rumbley prepared this report for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education. In section 13 of this report, they explore eight future trends that the postsecondary sector should keep an eye on and consider adapting to.

Martin, F., & Xie, K. (2022). Digital tranformation in higher education: 7 areas for enhancing digital learning. EDUCAUSE Review. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/9/digital-transformation-in-higher-education-7-areas-for-enhancing-digital-learning#fn3 

This article reflects on current practices and directions for digital transformation that higher education institutions could use to support digital teaching and learning.