While a few percent or possibly tens of percent of improvement is possible from more effective administration or business practices, it appears that only proposals which incorporate as well appropriate structural and technological change can have any hope of truly significant impact. Multiplying that by the number of universities in the world gives a rough projection of the potential resources that could be released to more effective use. The development of alternative learning resources and access routes is burgeoning today, and will force changes in higher education without the opportunity to properly address the full range of issues involved. For-profit learning modules are unlikely to provide the depth of academic freedom, currency of information, and open dialog of a system that incorporates all participants in its design and operation. And any system of higher education that fails to take leadership in addressing these issues will soon find itself a discredited and forgotten bystander as our education system moves into the 21st century.
Education is the basis of success in the coming century.
Its vitality, effectiveness, affordability and appropriateness need to be ensured and expanded if we are to be among the successful.