While I have not been blogging much I have been reading some. Trying to avoid politics, about which we know too much, and articles about the coronavirus, about which we know too little, I rely on a bespoke site which unfailingly directs one to material that is worth reading. While I was just typing up the post about some small liberal arts colleges in Canada and the problems they may face because of the current pandemic, I was reminded of a very good piece about higher education that was recommended.
The point being made is that the pandemic will cause considerable disruption, if not disaster, for many colleges and universities. The person making it is Scott Galloway. Rather than risk corrupting his thoughts and ideas, I will provide examples and sources so you can decide for yourself.
The first article I was led to is by James D. Walsh and it appears in New York magazine on May 11, 2020 and has the title: "The Coming Disruption Scott Galloway Predicts a Handful of Elite Cyborg Universities will soon Monopolize Higher Education."
Prior to asking Mr. Galloway some questions, one finds this brief introduction:
"In 2017, Scott Galloway anticipated Amazon’s $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods a month before it was announced. Last year, he called WeWork on its “seriously loco” $47 billion valuation a month before the company’s IPO imploded. Now, Galloway, a Silicon Valley runaway who teaches marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, believes the pandemic has greased the wheels for big tech’s entrée into higher education. The post-pandemic future, he says, will entail partnerships between the largest tech companies in the world and elite universities. MIT@Google. iStanford. HarvardxFacebook. According to Galloway, these partnerships will allow universities to expand enrollment dramatically by offering hybrid online-offline degrees, the affordability and value of which will seismically alter the landscape of higher education. Galloway, who also founded his own virtual classroom start-up, predicts hundreds, if not thousands, of brick-and-mortar universities will go out of business and those that remain will have student bodies composed primarily of the children of the one percent.
At the same time, more people than ever will have access to a solid education, albeit one that is delivered mostly over the internet. The partnerships he envisions will make life easier for hundreds of millions of people while sapping humanity of a face-to face system of learning that has evolved over centuries. Of course, it will also make a handful of people very, very rich. It may not be long before Galloway’s predictions are put to the test."
The first question asked and part of the answer:
Colleges and universities are scrambling to figure out what to do next year if students can’t come back to campus. Half the schools have pushed back their May 1 deadlines for accepting seats. What do you expect to happen over the next month?
"There’s a recognition that education — the value, the price, the product — has fundamentally shifted. The value of education has been substantially degraded. There’s the education certification and then there’s the experience part of college. The experience part of it is down to zero, and the education part has been dramatically reduced. You get a degree that, over time, will be reduced in value as we realize it’s not the same to be a graduate of a liberal-arts college if you never went to campus. You can see already how students and their parents are responding."
More samples:
When will there be a reckoning? It has to come before classes begin this fall?
"Over the next six weeks, when we realize that the deposits and registrations for the fall are down 10 to 30 percent. The better universities are fine in the short term because they just fill spots from the waiting lists. The kid who’s going to Boston College will get into MIT. But if that snakes down the supply chain, and you start getting to universities that don’t have waiting lists, those are the ones that get hit."
How many schools will collapse between now and next year?
"It will be like department stores in 2018. Everyone will recognize they’re going out of business, but it will take longer than people think. There will be a lot of zombie universities. Alumni will step in to help. They’ll cut costs to figure out how to stay alive, but they’ll effectively be the walking dead. I don’t think you’re going to see massive shutdowns, but there’s going to be a strain on tier-two colleges."
Who Is Scott Galloway?
Naturally, Galloway's views attracted considerable attention and that question was asked by those at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here is a portion of the article:
"Higher Ed’s Prickliest Pundit: Scott Galloway is Suddenly Everywhere, Slaying Academe’s Sacred Cows," By Tom Bartlett June 12, 2020.
Scott Galloway believes higher education is overdue for a reckoning. Sky-high tuition leaves too many students drowning in debt. Tenure guarantees lifetime appointments to subpar professors. Elite colleges hoard their vast endowments and brag about how many applicants they reject, while kids from humble backgrounds are left behind...."
Lately Galloway’s stock seems to be on the rise. The Wall Street Journal recently profiled him, noting his ambition to become “the most influential thought leader in the history of business.” At the end of an interview on CNN, Anderson Cooper declared Galloway’s insights on the coming reshuffling in higher ed “the most interesting five minutes I’ve had in a long time.” He has a new show on Vice TV, which is essentially Galloway ranting and gesticulating against a white background. The show's title matches the vibe: No Mercy/No Malice.
What has the pandemic exposed about higher education?
"It's pulled back the curtain. Like any consumer product, it's created additional transparency around the value-to-price ratio, what people are actually getting for their money. You could have 50 percent of international students not show up and 20 percent of domestic students not show up in the fall. So it's demand destruction. These Zoom classes that everyone has been doing, I would argue it's not as much that people are disappointed in the Zoom classes, it's that they're disappointed in what the Zoom classes have revealed. Everyone knows that Zoom classes are not as good as the real thing, but people understand we're in a crisis. I think what people are most disappointed in, as parents have collectively said, "That's what I've been paying for?"
...So it's created two things: demand destruction and a moment in time where families are pausing and asking tough questions about whether or not pricing has finally escalated to the point where many college experiences are no longer worth it."
Sources:
The profile in the Wall Street Journal: "Prof. Scott Galloway Wants to Be 'the Most Influential Thought Leader in the History of Business", Lane Florsheim, WSJ: The Magazine From the Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2020.
The CNN interview is very interesting: "Prof. Scott Galloway Talks to Anderson Cooper: How the Pandemic Could Disrupt Higher Education," May 22, 2020. You can watch it on YouTube.
There is a Wikipedia entry for Mr. Galloway and he does podcasts and Ted Talks.
The image above is from his blog - No Mercy/No Malice.
Bonus Material:
Galloway was asked about Tenure:
Tenure is easy to attack. The reality is, though, that the majority of real cost explosion has happened at the administration level, in what I call positions and centers and classes around things like leadership and ethics that have absolutely no measurable outcome.
He was also asked this question. You have to like the guy!
Is there anything you do to prevent burnout or does that not really affect you?
"Alcohol and exercise. I think alcohol gets a bad rap. I think that we assume that the entire world is bad drinkers, that everyone who drinks is bad at it. I'm very good at it. It is a feature in my life, not a bug. It helps me relax. I'm a better version of me after a few drinks. So I'm very good at drinking and I use it to my advantage. And I also try and exercise everyday."
