Thursday, June 10, 2010

educational entrepreneurship


A very recent story in the Times Higher Educational Supplement reports that David Willetts, the UK's new Universities minister is proposing a form of deregulation of higher education that is extremely interesting. According to the THES article, Willetts is suggesting that the processes of teaching and grading be de-coupled. This would create a system much like that in the UK high-school sector, where exams are graded by exam boards. Only, in the case of Higher Education (HE) the grading services would be provided by degree granting institutions.

This is precisely the kind of external 'disruption' that can be a powerful driver of entrepreneurial opportunity. If a change such as this were to take place, there are a number of obvious sources for enterprising individuals, companies, and universities to contribute to a more dynamic, competitive, and ultimately welfare enhancing HE sector. For example:

  • opportunities for industrious and well regarded universities to build an 'exam board' business
  • opportunities for private sector entrepreneurs to credibly enter the HE market and provide higher quality (or lower cost) services
  • opportunities for greater flexibility for consumers of HE
I would be surprised if this is the only such disruption forthcoming in the HE sector in the next five years. Watch out for enterprising educational institutions going forward. Given the need for flexibility and speed to exploit these opportunities, it would not be surprising to see some different institutional names in the frame, and not necessarily the 'ancient' universities or even the 'civic' universities.

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