FOR over a year now, three waves have shaken up the staid higher education landscape.
FIRST, the migration to online learning has upended student experience. They no longer enjoy the fellowship of their classmates.
SECOND, revenues have shrunk as student enrolment declines. Many foreign and local students have stayed away until the pandemic subsides and travel restrictions are lifted.
Further, declines in graduate employment, and its attendant salary premium, discourage university enrolment.
Pricey investments in IT facilities to cater for online teaching compound the decline in revenues, forcing universities to face a cash crunch.
A 2020 study in the United Kingdom suggested that 13 English universities might face closure, while annual university revenue in England would decline by a quarter.
Money too will dry up for one-third of American private colleges within the next five years. In Malaysia, about one-tenth of private institutions closed last year. Added to these woes are technological advancements that have made online education cheaper, if not free.
The late Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School considered that such massive open online courses, or MOOC, could sound the death knell for more than half of American universities by 2030.
THIRD, is the disruptive wave that shakes the raison d'être of the university to the core. Traditionally, universities are bastions of developing all-rounded citizens and tomorrow's leaders.
Now, the demands of graduate employability and the hunger for skills turn universities into factories for talent.
All this portends 2021 to be another difficult year for universities. How can they then survive amid technological advancements, demands of the marketplace, and a lacklustre global and local economy?
Doubtless, a university education is priceless. As John Newman, an English cardinal, said in 1858, "[A university] is a place for the communication and circulation of thought, by means of personal intercourse."
A university education teaches critical thinking and develops leadership qualities in students as they take control of their lives and studies and participate in campus activities.
It enhances students' social skills as they learn to debate, make presentations and cultivate friends, and maybe even find a life partner.
Knowledge gathered there may not be directly and immediately useful. But they broaden one's capacity to comprehend things. And that knowledge resides in the inner recesses of one's mind, ready to be recalled when a situation demands.
To meet the demands of the marketplace while keeping faith to their true purpose, universities may need to combine skill-enhancement and academic learning.
They could provide additional value to students by enlarging their digital repository of teaching and learning materials.
To ensure sustainability, universities have sought to diversify their revenue streams through the establishment of fee-paying service centres.
They have begun to offer industry-relevant programmes while ensuring the curriculums of present ones are up to date.
To make their programmes attractive, universities could also consider offering students electives from other faculties and even other universities.
Universities will reopen soon for in-person classes. Nevertheless, a hybrid system that combines online learning with face-to-face teaching will be the new norm.
Some universities in the US have adopted this blended approach. Another approach would be to allow students to start their courses online and come into the campus in the subsequent years.
This blended learning can attract those who might want to mix learning with work or child-care.
Globally, the demand for reskilling and upskilling is growing among the working population.
Short skill-based programmes, and the unbundling of academic programmes into a series of well-adapted training programmes, which come with the possibility of accumulating credits for a degree, may well provide the lifeline that universities need.
For such short programmes to succeed, universities will require lecturers who can provide customised support.
Universities are vulnerable to the march of times. They must find ways to reinvent themselves. As with everything else in life, for universities change is a constant.
The writer is AIMST University vice-chancellor