Future Challenges Philip G. Altbach and Martin J. Finkelstein Philip G. Altbach is professor of higher education and director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. Martin J. Finkelstein is director of the New Jersey Institute for Collegiate Teaching and Learning and professor of education at Seton Hall University. Alfieri Hall, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ 07079. The academic profession worldwide is faced with significant problems as we approach the 21st century. In our view, the following issues constitute some of the major challenges facing the American professoriate in the coming period.
Similar factors affect other countries as well.
The United States is moving from an industrial to an information-based economy and finds itself now competing in global markets. The past five years in particular have witnessed a revolution in the dominant technology of academic work. Scholars increasingly rely on digital technology for accessing information and for communicating with colleagues and students. Teaching practices have historically proven extremely resistant to change, but indications are that new technologies are gaining acceptance in the classroom as well. In the last quarter century, then, the vast majority of the American faculty faced a bewildering mix of external forces that are already beginning to change the rules governing academic careers and the expectations for academic work.