Should Colleges Follow For-Profit Model When It Comes to Teaching?

Posted by Kenneth Ronkowitz on

I'm not sure exactly what my reaction is to this report I read about on The Chronicle's Wired Campus blog. It's a report from a group of IT experts who work for companies with ties to the Committee for Economic Development. They say that traditional colleges and universities can learn from for-profit colleges' approach to teaching, especially teaching that occurs online.

What is it we can learn from them? Here are three points.

1. For-profit colleges are more likely than traditional colleges to use disruptive technology if it allows them to serve new markets, or serve markets more efficiently and effectively in order to profit. E-textbooks would be an example.

2. Many for-profits put more of an emphasis on instructor training before allowing them to teach online. These institutions, such as The University of Phoenix, REQUIRE (key word) faculty to participate in a multi-week training programs that include theories of andragogy.

3. Because they are profit-drive, these institutions pay closer attention to costs and outcomes and student achievement rates.

The report committee sponsors include GE, Merrill Lynch and Company, IBM, McKinsey and Company, General Motors, and Pfizer.

Read a summary of the report here.


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