To me, these “niche” subjects / academic programs that are being cut are the priceless pieces of higher ed, while the capital expenditures, student experience luxuries & administrative bloat can go. Of course it is the administrators that make these decisions. But for me, a modern university should get leaner, more creative, flexible, agile, etc... while holding the academics sacred. Cut everything else, but keep the Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, Linguistics, and Foreign Literatures and Cultures in Translation.
I mean linguistics, translation, localization - those are essential skills for tech / apps.
Competing alternatives will step in and fill the gap, but this really seems like a step back for a significant state higher ed institution and the symptom of misaligned priorities.
So maybe this is what the modern state university looks like - retreating academically while fragmented alternative online options continue to step into fill the gaps, and chip away at the value of a “traditional 4 year degree”?
I’m probably just overreacting to one data point and shouldn’t comment on Substack on a Friday night after 10pm, but this my ornery visceral reaction to todays big news in higher ed
This is a great point! One thing I've been mulling over, and may even write about today, is that many schools *can't* be nimble as you describe. It is very tricky to re-allocate university resources from one program to another - a far easier lever to pull is investing in "growth."
Second, while it makes sense that most of your paid readers would like more analysis on funding and M&A, I hope you won’t altogether leave out your musings on the state of US higher ed. You have interesting perspectives from a useful vantage point. (The comments section of that recent WSJ article alone could prompt many more musings!)
Thanks for the feedback Denny! The Weekly Update (musings) is important to me too - it helps me craft new ideas, which is both the hardest and most important part of this newsletter. I'm hopeful that adding more Funding / M&A content will de-stress the idea generation writing by making the paid offering less dependent on it
This is a good follow up to your question about what is a modern university: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/west-virginia-university-budget-cuts-deficit.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
To me, these “niche” subjects / academic programs that are being cut are the priceless pieces of higher ed, while the capital expenditures, student experience luxuries & administrative bloat can go. Of course it is the administrators that make these decisions. But for me, a modern university should get leaner, more creative, flexible, agile, etc... while holding the academics sacred. Cut everything else, but keep the Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, Linguistics, and Foreign Literatures and Cultures in Translation.
I mean linguistics, translation, localization - those are essential skills for tech / apps.
Competing alternatives will step in and fill the gap, but this really seems like a step back for a significant state higher ed institution and the symptom of misaligned priorities.
So maybe this is what the modern state university looks like - retreating academically while fragmented alternative online options continue to step into fill the gaps, and chip away at the value of a “traditional 4 year degree”?
I’m probably just overreacting to one data point and shouldn’t comment on Substack on a Friday night after 10pm, but this my ornery visceral reaction to todays big news in higher ed
This is a great point! One thing I've been mulling over, and may even write about today, is that many schools *can't* be nimble as you describe. It is very tricky to re-allocate university resources from one program to another - a far easier lever to pull is investing in "growth."
First, congrats on the ‘new dad’ news, Matt!
Second, while it makes sense that most of your paid readers would like more analysis on funding and M&A, I hope you won’t altogether leave out your musings on the state of US higher ed. You have interesting perspectives from a useful vantage point. (The comments section of that recent WSJ article alone could prompt many more musings!)
Thanks for the feedback Denny! The Weekly Update (musings) is important to me too - it helps me craft new ideas, which is both the hardest and most important part of this newsletter. I'm hopeful that adding more Funding / M&A content will de-stress the idea generation writing by making the paid offering less dependent on it