To the Table of Contents. The resulting programs require further study to verify feasibility, and then more than a year for implementation. The Committee recommends that MIT monitor carefully trends in advanced technologies, which both offer opportunities and present risks. Advanced technologies may permit effective distance education so that education in mid career become more feasible. An extensive program of career-long education could be thought of in terms of various analogies.
Several industries offer extended warranties or technical assistance, and make money doing so.
In our case we might serve the needs of our graduates at the time they perceive those needs. We might offer upgrades to our graduates, to update the technical ideas they have in their minds. The analogy is to the software industry, which regularly issues software upgrades and invites customers to buy the latest version. Another metaphor is the Health Maintenance Organization. Any of these models changes how we think of our students, from customers during an intense 4 or 5 year period, to that of partners in education, with a relationship lasting through the end of the their careers.