• Introduction
• Teacher as Information Conveyor
• Teacher as Facilitator
• Blaming the Administrators
• Shifting Markets
• The New University
• The Professional Teacher
• References
• Printable Text of Article

© Copyright 1998-99 by Peter J. Denning (pjd@gmu.edu)  The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author.

Section Five: The New University

These trends and new realities paint a picture of expectations of public universities that differ markedly from those of a generation ago. The public broadly expects universities to prepare their students for employment and help them maintain professional currency after graduation. The public also believes that a well-educated workforce is economically competitive in world markets and that the education necessary to support this must continue through a person’s career into retirement.

These trends have created a rich set of new opportunities for universities in research, professional education, and teaching. I will only summarize here what I have said at length elsewhere (Educom Review, November 1996). Universities are beginning to adapt to the demands of the marketplace. The successful ones will escape the dark future forecast by Drucker and feared by Perelman.

In research, we can learn much from the model designed by Dennis Tsichritzis, Chairman of GMD, the German National Laboratory for Information Technology. Tsichritzis focuses on innovation, which he says is the ultimate purpose of research. He recognizes three processes for producing innovation: generation of new ideas, generation of new competencies, and generation of new products. Each process leads to the adoption of new practices (the hallmark of innovation) by a different path. This model has been well received and GMD enjoys broad political support from universities, businesses, and government. One lesson that a university can learn from this is that its portfolio of research can include research that assists companies develop products. Broadened research portfolios will expand the ways in which faculty’s creative energies can be harnessed, enrich the range of experiences available to students, and give access to new federal research programs and corporate research moneys.

In professional education, a rich new world of graduate programs is opening up, including professional certifications, professional updating, and teaching of higher levels of competence such as expert, virtuoso, and even master in selected domains. Even in the unlikely event that significant automation is achieved in many undergraduate courses, there will be plenty of work for faculty in professional and continuing education.

This is the environment in which the next generation of teachers will function. Who must these teachers be? What can we do to prepare the way?

Next Section: The Professional Teacher
Previous Section: Shifting Markets