Ken Steele is Canada's foremost higher ed strategist, speaker and facilitator, and for more than a decade he has presented hundreds of keynotes, campus presentations and workshops across North America.
In this brief video, he describes the goals of campus presentations, workshops and PD sessions, to create widespread shared understanding of emerging trends and best practices, and to open eyes and minds to potential innovations in higher education.
For more information about Ken's campus presentations, please visit http://eduvation.ca/services/campus-pd-presentations/
For virtual keynotes, delivered remotely at much lower cost, visit http://eduvation.ca/services/virtual-keynotes/
For committee workshops, see http://eduvation.ca/services/workshops/
Ken Steele's 10th annual higher ed "year in review" continues with part 3, a look at the fall – and rise – of for-profit fortunes in 2016.
In the previous two episodes, we looked at the proliferation of free college tuition policies across North America, the rise of anti-intellectualism and protectionism, and some of the implications for international education. (Check out part 1 https://youtu.be/CZ6nuznRV_I , and part 2 https://youtu.be/AWuE7EhoejI ).
6) FOR-PROFITS
For decades now, massive for-profit schools like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University have been rewriting the rules of higher education, and transforming the landscape. Last year was their annus horribilis, but also likely marks a turning point to much better times ahead.
For 8 years, the Obama administration aggressively prosecuted for-profit colleges and universities for deceptive marketing, fraudulent enrolments, and high rates of student loan defaults. The GAO’s undercover agents caught recruiters on hidden camera, encouraging students to lie on their loan applications. Major online universities like Phoenix were apparently targeting homeless shelters, and encouraging students with little chance of academic success to apply for substantial financial aid. There was a Senate hearing into For-Profit School recruitment practices, and new, tougher regulations.
Between 2011 and 2015, for-profit universities saw declines of 30% or more in enrolment. Corinthian Colleges faced legal challenges by state and federal agencies, and finally declared it was closing more than 100 campuses in April 2015. In August 2016, ITT Technical Institute lost its accreditation, and it declared bankruptcy within a month, closing 130 campuses and laying off 8,000 employees. In September 2016, Washington revoked the accreditation of ACICS, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. And just last week, in the final days of the Obama administration, it was announced that more than 800 programs failed the Department of Education’s “gainful employment” standards, and therefore risked losing student aid eligibility – 98% of them at for-profit institutions.
But it seems pretty likely that 2016 marks the nadir of fortune for America’s for-profit colleges and universities. President-elect Trump hasn’t articulated his higher education policies, but it seems obvious that the founder of Trump University will have sympathies with other for-profits. The president-elect has made it clear that he is a strong supporter of school choice and charter schools, promising to repurpose about a third of the federal education budget. It seems likely that his administration will deregulate the for-profit sector. He may grant a reprieve to ACICS. In the past, he has threatened to eliminate the federal Department of Education entirely. Federal legislation like Title IX may be weakened. And competency-based degrees will continue to gain momentum.
Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a reformer of elementary and secondary schools, a strong believer in charter schools, school choice, and voucher systems. She is likely to promote privatization, performance-based government funding, and legislation to further reduce the power of faculty and staff unions. She has been a supporter of religious schools and free speech on campus, and an opponent of political correctness, affirmative action, and same-sex marriage.
Decades of growth in for-profit higher ed were largely undone under two terms of Obama’s administration. Whether you think that’s a good thing or not, the Trump administration is poised to reverse much of the regulation and enforcement that has held back the multinational expansion of for-profit colleges and universities. In Canada and around the world, we need to prepare ourselves for a resurgence of corporate players in higher education.
Excerpts:
Dan Rather Reports – https://youtu.be/Pa1DxUWMsEU
Frontline 2010 – https://youtu.be/08_AuakqdXs
Frontline 2016 - https://youtu.be/Cew6EutvAjE
Fox 5 Atlanta - https://youtu.be/2vhFcKIhm4Y
GAO - https://youtu.be/9PbevtrhEKM
MSNBC - https://youtu.be/JUaMFVDV9PQ
NBC - https://youtu.be/S1XUwbtMxfE
Corinthian hearings - https://youtu.be/tkKmjyuoKyY
Betsy Devos highlights - https://youtu.be/Mc2n9uacQq4
Trump’s school choice proposal - http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-school-choice-proposal-227915
Next time, we’ll look back at campus challenges and controversies of 2016, in our annual review of higher ed headaches!
Ken Steele's 10th annual higher ed "year in review" continues with part 2, a look back at populism, protectionism and post-truth in 2016. (Check out part 1 at https://youtu.be/CZ6nuznRV_I ).
There were some significant, and even terrifying, political events last year:
3) POST-TRUTH
Oxford Dictionaries have declared “post-truth” the word of 2016. It was used 200 times more than any year previous, mostly because of the US election and UK referendum. Thanks to social media, deliberate misinformation and the layoff of journalists and editors, many people no longer know what to believe. Russian hackers and trolls waged cyberwarfare last year to influence elections and destabilize NATO. Propaganda and “fake news” has proliferated. George Orwell’s dystopian vision (from his novel 1984) was set just a few decades too early.
Britain, we heard last year, has “had enough of experts.”
https://youtu.be/GGgiGtJk7MA
Widespread support for Brexit, Donald Trump, Rob Ford and “Boaty McBoatface” exemplifies the anti-intellectualism that is rampant. Universities will be popular targets in this “post-truth” era. President-elect Trump has said emphatically how he "loves the poorly-educated": https://youtu.be/Vpdt7omPoa0
4) NATIONALISM
Across Europe and the US, populist movements have spread anxiety about immigration and led to tougher border enforcement, racist hate crimes, and plenty of xenophobic rhetoric. (From “poisoned skittles” to “extreme vetting.”) Trump campaigned for president on a platform of literally building a wall: https://youtu.be/ZGSAhNZnisk
It is estimated that Brexit will cost UK universities £3.7 billion, and 34,000 jobs. It also led to a 36% decline in international student interest.
A survey conducted prior to the US election found that 60% of international students would be less inclined to study in the US under a Trump presidency. On election night, 200,000 Americans tried to access the Citizenship & Immigration Canada website simultaneously, crashing it for 10 hours. The next day, American Google searches and web hits to Canadian colleges and universities tripled or quintupled!
The US brand for international student recruitment has shifted, and Canada, Australia and New Zealand may be well positioned to gain market share over the coming years.
5) SAUDI
In international education, several other major shifts in 2016 focused on Saudi Arabia. Plummeting oil prices have impacted the Kingdom’s budget, and inevitably the King Abdullah Scholarship program, which has sent more than 200,000 students abroad. Enrolments in US language schools showed the first drop, but overall Saudi students in the US have declined 20%. Universities not ranked in the world’s top 200 can expect Saudi enrolments to drop to virtually zero. And in Ontario, we saw significant controversy last year over gender segregated college campuses operated in Saudi Arabia by Niagara and Algonquin College, sparked by the premier’s declaration that they are “unacceptable.” In the end the controversy dissipated, but the lasting effect came from financial troubles. Algonquin College announced that, after losing about $1.5 million on its Saudi campus, it was pulling out.
Next time, in part 3, we'll look at the pivot in the fortunes of for-profit higher education, triggered by the US election. The policy positions of president-elect Trump and his proposed Education Secretary will pave the way for some interesting years ahead!
Stay tuned until after the closing credits for some bloopers!
Ken Steele's 10th annual higher ed "year in review" looks back at 2016 and sums up the major news and trends shaping the postsecondary landscape in just 6 words.
In part 1, he reviews the many tragedies of 2016, from the loss of famous celebrities and great thinkers to Zika and Brangelina. 2016 was a year that left many feeling adrift, and the surge towards populism gave us Brexit, Trump, and Boaty McBoatface.
Plenty of trends we identified in previous years continued in 2016, from gender equity and sexual assault protocols to political correctness, indigenous content and "peak campus". But in this episode, we look at a major disaster and an emerging trend that defined the year that was:
1) FIRE!
The biggest news story in Canada was unquestionably the Fort MacMurray wildfire, which swept through 1.5 million acres in northern Alberta. It caused the emergency evacuation of all 88,000 residents in town, destroyed 2,400 homes, and caused about $9 billion in damage. Keyano College was fortunate, in that its campuses escaped structural damage, but smoke remediation still cost about $15 million. Canada is still feeling the economic and labour market impacts of the disaster.
2) FREE!
Momentum towards free tuition programs has been building across North America for several years. In 2014, the "Tennessee Promise" offered students 2 years of community college for zero tuition. In 2015, President Obama proposed a $60 billion "American College Promise" program, and Minnesota and Oregon approved plans of their own. In 2016, Kentucky followed suit, and Bernie Sanders pushed for free university tuition as well.
Obama - https://youtu.be/nFWhzdQcwnk
Sanders - https://youtu.be/c4I2dbTxpqU
In Canada, Quebec CÉGEPs have been offering free tuition for 50 years now, but in 2016 Ontario and New Brunswick launched new programs. The Canadian Federation of Students published a report calling for "education justice," and calculating that it would cost the federal government $10.2 billion. CFS staged a day of protest in early November.
Charlatan - https://youtu.be/5PUQ3L8zBQI
Next time, in part 2, we'll look at the global shift towards populism, protectionism, and a post-truth distrust of intellectuals. The trends pose major challenges, and some opportunities, to higher education.
Stay tuned until after the closing credits for some bloopers!