Summary: University Challenges; Borderless Higher Education, Today and Tomorrow

Middlehurst, R. (2001). University challenges: Borderless higher education, today and tomorrow. Minerva, 39, 3-26. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.



Summary by Rabiatul A. Aziz

Introduction

Higher education now is rapidly changing becoming new providers and in new forms. The changes are well defined as 'borderless education' which refers to the development that goes or is potential of going beyond the traditional borders of higher education. These borders are national, organizational and sector boundaries, border of time and space and private/ public boundaries. The development causes the needs for redefinition which widen the conceptual frameworks and challenge the way of teaching, learning, research and community are serviced and delivered.

The key factors that driven new development in higher education are the increasing numbers of student which is caused by people who wants credentials or training in their working field, and the increasing costs of higher education which is caused by the expansion of flexibility and educational provisions. The drivers of this change are:

• Economic and business dynamics: higher education is economic imperatives and business concerns, higher education the central of agenda for knowledge-driven economy, the globalisation of knowledge economy.
• Social and intellectual change: widens access and participation, higher expectations of customer service, increasing individual and group autonomy, authority challenges and new patterns of interaction and relationship by variety of networks.
• Technological development: convergence of technologies into forms of digital storage and convergence of networks producing volatility.
• The policy context: the lifelong learning and skills' agendas offers opening for competition which need a change of present policy.

Development landscape in new educational sector can be grouped in seven different heading:

• Corporate Universities: represents a re-organization and re-naming of human resource and education and training activities.
• 'For-Profit' Education: is the manifestation of the education and training development in business sector, which many of them have significant global 'brands'.
• Media/ Publishing Businesses: is one of the major threat to universities in educational development. However, universities has collaborated by offering variety of services through partnership.
• Professional Associations: seeking was to sell their 'brand-name' and assess their selling propositions just like companies. The growth of specialist professional and vocational colleges is also one of the trend in professional associations.
• Educational Service and Brokers: Corporate universities and traditional universities need to depend on other organisation that offers educational service and brokers using fully integrated electronic systems in the era of rapid advances in technology.
• 'Borderless' Developments among Universities and Colleges: borderless development have four visible trends among existing universities which areconvergence between distance learning and face-to-face modes of teaching and learning, various form of collaboration, increasing commercialism and involvements in business ventures and lastly closely involves in creating or tailoring courses to the needs of business.

Challenges to Universities from 'Borderless' Higher Education.

The first challenges arises from new professionalism and customer-focused approach to training and education. The second is from the advancing of technology that becomes widespread and being dependent on globally. The third challenge derives from the convergence between previously discrete academic territories and organisations.

The impact of the challenges is that it create fluidity in boundaries of time and space in the relation to the delivery of education. The dissolving boundaries raises the issues of identity, structure, co-ordination and regulation particularly between the universities' functions and between major and peripheral service. The expectation of education has changed the 'offer' to be created in new form where specialized function is clearer. This cause the universities to redefine their core business. More focused education is designated to praticality needs in the industry rather than just focusing on university qualification. The borderless features also involving of reputation and brand image to expand opportunities in the education and traning market.