What Is High Quality In Higher Education?

Colleges and universities have
long followed the “resource and reputation model” of academic
excellence supported by rankings in popular media, Rockefeller Institute Senior
Fellow Joseph Burke writes in a new commentary. Recently, however —- in the face of mounting global
competition, which fuels the need to raise quality while cutting costs —- education reformers are focusing on
more critical objectives like increasing degree completion and reducing the
time it takes students to earn their degrees. Burke worries that in their
efforts, however, reformers may overlook the need to dismantle the resource and
reputation model of excellence. Making undergraduate education better and less
expensive calls for a rating system based on how well students learn, he says.

To read his full commentary, visit the Institute’s Web site.