Colleges and universities are struggling to stay afloat.
The reasons are numerous: the decrease in the number of students of university age in much of the country, the increase in registration in public institutions as state financing is reduced, and a growing skepticism about the value of a university degree.
There is more and more pressure to reduce costs shortening the time that has been obtaining a four -year title to three.
Students, parents and legislators increasingly prioritize the return of investment and the degrees with the most likely to generate paid employment. This has promoted registration in professional programs, while reduced interest in traditional humanities and liberal arts, creating an imbalance between supply and demand.
The result has been a growing financial pressure and an unprecedented number of closures and mergers, to date mostly between smaller liberal arts universities.
To survive, institutions strive to align their curriculum with market demand. And to achieve this, they resort to the traditional university career. The university specialization, developed and taught by disciplinary experts within isolated departments, remains the main reference point for academic quality and institutional performance.
This structure probably works well for professional careers governed by accreditation or license, or more closely linked to employment. However, in the current panorama, depending on a specific career of a discipline may not always be beneficial for students or institutions.
As Professor Emeritus and Ex -administrator and University Dean, university students may no longer keep up with the combinations of skills that cross multiple academic disciplines and professional preparation skills required by employers, or with the flexibility that students need to position themselves better in the workplace.
Students want flexibility
Every year we see students who arrive at the campus with different interests, passions and talents, eager to integrate them into significant lives and careers.
A more flexible curriculum is linked to student success, and students now consult AI tools such as Chatgpt to find the combinations of courses that best allow them to achieve their future. They seek flexibility, options and time to reorient their studies if necessary.
And yet, from the moment students arrive at the campus, even before requesting admission, they are asked to indicate a specialization of a list of default options. Specialization, added to general training and other university requirements, creates an academic path that is not flexible.
It is not surprising that about 80% of university students change their specialization at least once, which suggests that more flexible degree requirements would allow them to explore and combine various areas of interest.
And the number of careers, and even more jobs, which are expected to have university graduates will continue to increase as the technological change becomes more disruptive.
As institutions face increasing pressures to attract students and balance budgets, and the university specialty remains the main metric to achieve it, the curriculum can be less flexible now than never.
See: Education in Mexico: the abandonment of millions and the renunciation of the future
How schools are responding
In response to market pressures, universities are incorporating new high demand races at a record rate. Between 2002 and 2022, the number of grade programs at the national level increased by almost 23 thousand, or 40%, while registration only grew by 8%.
Some of these careers, such as cybersecurity, fashion businesses or entertainment design, could connect disciplines instead of highlighting themselves. Therefore, these new careers divert the registration of programs with less demand within the institution and compete with similar careers in competition universities.
At the same time, traditional arts and humanities careers are incorporating professional courses to attract students and improve employability. However, this adds credits to the degree, while usually doubling the content already available in other departments.
It is important to note that, although new programs are added, few are eliminated. The challenge lies in the permanence and governance of teachers, together with the traditional idea that the teaching staff defines the curriculum as an expert in the discipline. This hinders the closure or review of races with low demand and the allocation of resources to growth areas.
The result is a proliferation of programs with little registration, canceled courses and limited resources, which leads to a lower quality of the programs and a decrease in the moral of teachers.
Ironically, given the pressure of the decrease in demand, perverse incentives may arise to increase the credit hours required in a specialization or in the general education requirements, in order to obtain more resources or add courses aligned with the interests of the teaching staff. All this continues to expand the curriculum and exhaust the available resources.
Universities are also struggling with the idea of liberal education and how to integrate the general education requirement. Although liberal education is getting lower criticism, employers and students still value it.
Student’s professional preparation skills – their ability to think critically and creatively, collaborate effectively and communicate well – are still strong predictors of future success in workplace and life.
Reinventing the university career
Assuming that students must complete a specialization to obtain a title, universities can also allow them to group smaller modules (such as minor subjects with variable credits, certificates or courses sequences) in a customizable modular specialization.
This allows students, guided by advisors, to create a title that adjusts to their interests and objectives, taking advantage of various disciplines. A few projects based on projects can integrate everything and provide context.
This model would not harm existing races with high demand. For others, where the demand for the career is decreasing, a flexible structure would strengthen the enrollment, preserve the experience of the teaching staff instead of eliminating it, it would attract a growing number of non -traditional students that bring to the previously obtained credential campus and address the financial balance by adapting the curriculum to student demand.
A criticism of such a flexible specialization is its lack of depth of study, but it is precisely the combination of curricular content that gives it depth. Another criticism is that it cannot be effectively promoted before an employer.
However, a personalized specialization can have a clear name and clearly explain employers to highlight the unique skills of students.
In addition, as students try to incorporate cocurricular experiences (such as studies abroad, internships, undergraduate research or organizational leadership) in their study program, these can also be approved as modules in a flexible curriculum.
It should be noted that, although several schools offer specializations in interdisciplinary studies, these are usually overexigated or do not allow students to access courses with high demand. In order for a flexible degree model to succeed, it would be necessary for the course sections to be available and are added or eliminated according to student demand.
Several schools also offer microcredially: skills -based courses or modules that, increasingly, include liberal arts subjects. However, these are usually required in addition to the specialization requirements.
We assume university specialization. However, it is worth noting that the specialty is a relatively recent invention.
Before the twentieth century, students followed a wide curriculum of liberal arts designed to form comprehensive citizens and global mentality. This specialization arose in response to a constantly evolving workforce that prioritized specialized knowledge. But times change, and the model too.
*John Weigand He is a professor of architecture and interior design at the University of Miami.
This article was originally published in The Conversation
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