Question #1

Question #1 - What do you see as the greatest challenge for higher education?
 
Individual Responses -
  • What I see as the greatest challenge for higher education is students adapting their learning methods to the differing teaching methods of a college/university compared to a high school.
  • How to maintain the integrity of a University in educating students how to think critically and independently and also find ways to enhancing our students' marketability?
  • The greatest challenge I see for higher education is ensuring that equipment and technology (hardware and software) become up-to-date or as close as possible. A big example would be the testing equipment and machines in Moser, since those are insanely expensive pieces of equipment. Even computer software can be rather expensive to update.
  • Funding.
  • What about access to YSU for the citizens of Youngstown
  • Resources - beginning with the governor, state legislature, administration, and the people of OHIO. All parties must invest and be a willing participant in supporting State Universities. Online education from national institutions are not the answer and only make the state weaker. We the State Universities know our clients and care. We need an educated OHIO, we need to support all educational programs especially teacher preparation, our state P-12 schools depend on us and our teachers should come from OHIO. Government needs to put the money back in State Universities (4year), not short term fillers. An educated OHIO leads to a more prosperous OHIO.
  • Keeping higher education affordable for all without students and/or parents ending up with a great deal of debt.
  • I am reviewing the materials on your website. I add this observation today to contribute:
    In terms of Strategic Planning, I know that I am very clear that a business model applied to higher education is problematic and harmful. I have read The New Education (listed) on the Strategic Planning website this summer as well as Making Research Matter).  I think we need interdisciplinary conversations (Econ, Math, English, many other departments) on campus about how we help translate this into action so that other people in the community and key stakeholders understand it. I think we need excellent translation about why a business model is harmful for everyone and these conversations will certainly help and can include conversations with administration, the BOT and others who believe in the power of education and fully support student success. Given the realities of state budget cuts, we can discuss viable solutions and propose valid alternative model(s) that helps steer us away from a model that emphasizes the students only as consumers. I think we have experts on campus that could generate a useful discussion on this topic and it is needed. I think this topic can generate useful discussion with a multidisciplinary collaboration while developing the strategic plan. I know I would participate and learn from other experts on campus. Sharon Stringer, Psychology
  • One of the greatest challenges YSU faces is the inability to quickly change and adapt in an increasingly competitive global economy, where time and challenges do not stop and wait for business decisions to be made or contracts to be in place.  YSU needs to be able to make informed decisions through the use of accurate data analysis, in order to more accurately right size the university in this changing market.  Colleges and departments working in silos is detrimental to the overall culture and long-term goals of the institution.  There has to be more cohesion and a clear direction for YSU to be successful in the future.
  • I believe that higher education is facing an existential crisis. Many conversations in the popular press and social media focus on what higher education achieves. What is it good for? What should it be? What should it do? It is important to keep our degree programs up-to-date and relevant, but we must avoid the temptation to eschew general education become overly vocational. In order to be "job ready" students need not only a knowledge of their discipline and the tools and technology associated with it, but they also need the "soft skills" that employers want and new hires need. This includes oral communication and written communication, critical thinking and reasoning, an understanding of our historical context and culture, and sophisticated research skills. These elements of a classical education help graduates succeed as employees, citizens and flexible people who can adapt to changes in technology and culture. We should embrace and celebrate these skills and correctly model them for our students.
  • I believe that we have entities that are now providing educational experiences that meet the needs and demands of a new marketplace and universities are not attuned to this movement. I believe one-day soon in the next 10 years or so, HE will be in direct competition with these high-quality educational experiences that may outdo and overshadow our traditional learning models.  Higher education must understand and buy into this and learn how to effectively compete with it.  Competency education is one example, where technology companies and entities such as Coursera are coming in with strong with effective courses and learning experiences that are either free or at a very low cost.  Companies are looking at competency-based resumes and are highering these individuals in well-paying companies as Microsoft.
    P-12 education is also being transformed.  Higher education must be aligned with this personalized and skill-based model, or again, consumers will go to these other entities that provide it and are accepted by the job market.  Information is at everyone's fingertips...the sage on the stage model is transforming to project-based, personalized learning and we need to conceptualize what this means or we will be out-sourced and will not be able to compete with the financial stability of those who serve this new paradigm shift.
  • Right now I see the greatest challenge(s) for higher education to be the prevalent rapid turnover-rate of executive administrators and the publicly-forced acknowledgement of inappropriate behavior of faculty, coaches and executive.
  • Education individuals on the benefits of higher education.
  • The greatest challenge for higher education, and YSU, is the belief that cutting education resources will save money. States across the country have run into enormous financial challenges, and there seems to be no political easy way out for legislators. Among the few choices- cut public safety, infrastructure, welfare programs, or education. Of course, divesting in schools may make sense in the short term, especially in working-class states where a University education is considered a luxury. It is a choice many of our senators and governors have already made.  So suddenly our fellow schools must do more with less, and later, when there is no more to give, schools cut programs, scholarships, and salaries.  But the state budget looks trim, and legislators hold their heads up high- we have risen to the challenge, and averted the crisis.
    But what happens a decade after those choices are made? When we have a workforce that is not qualified to perform the needs of our citizens? When we run out of nurses and engineers? When no one in America is bilingual? When professors and teachers can no longer afford to remain in their chosen career path? America begins to lose job growth opportunities to other countries with employees who are educated and ready to work. Scientific advances and medical developments slip away.  Our citizens become unemployed, and increasingly dependent on government assistance to get by. Our once-prosperous economy recedes, and states are once again in economic turmoil.
    So what can be done? We can begin here, with our school, and our strategic plan.  We are so fortunate to have alumni that donate often, but what does it say about our commitment to education and our urban research goals when we utilize these funds to build a bowling center? We must resist the temptation to increase our athletic fingerprint on the community, and instead divert monies towards our most important asset- a quality education for a reasonable price. Moreover, when we create a new strategic plan, we need to remind our Board and our community that we are a research institution. So, we must invest in research facilities. We can start by giving our STEM students a proper space to work, free from water leaks and mold. YSU should hire a Director of Libraries, and we must build up our collections so that students and faculty alike can win grants and partnerships. 
    It shouldn't stop at the border of Youngstown. We need to change the way education is viewed in Columbus. We should elect officials who understand the long-term consequences of short-term budget fixes. We can streamline Universities so that state schools are working collaboratively to reduce curriculum overlap. Secondary schools can work with state Universities so that HS seniors are enrolled and earning credits towards a degree by their senior year, thereby reducing their college debt. Finally, Universities need to partner with companies and agencies outside YSU to ensure that our students will be able to enter the workforce quickly and confidently.
    If we must think of schooling in terms of economics, then so be it. But instead of the short-sighted thinking that schools lose money, we need to focus on what would happen if YSU, and schools like us, no longer existed. How very costly that would be.
  • -Anti-intellectualism and anti-science trends spreading around the USA.
    -Academic freedom
    -Diminishing funding and financial support  on Higher  Ed.
  • Remaining relevant and clearly, concisely and consistently telling WHY a higher education is important and necessary for a successful future.
  • Keeping a quality higher education affordable for students while, at the same time, keeping operating costs flat or lower.
    Also...
    Matching a student's interests (or passion) with their chosen major or expected career.
  • the greatest challenge for higher education is, remaining focus and having patience. It might sound easy but its not, you have to dedicated to what you really want.