The Struggle to Reform Our Colleges / / Derek Bok.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press Complete eBook-Package 2017
• VerfasserIn: Bok, Derek,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2017]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: The William G. Bowen Series ; 105
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (240 p.) :; 12 tables.

Why efforts to improve American higher educational attainment haven't worked, and where to go from hereDuring the first decade of this century, many commentators predicted that American higher education was about to undergo major changes that would be brought about under the stimulus of online learning and other technological advances. Toward the end of the decade, the president of the United States declared that America would regain its historic lead in the education of its workforce within the next ten years through a huge increase in the number of students earning “quality” college degrees.Several years have elapsed since these pronouncements were made, yet the rate of progress has increased very little, if at all, in the number of college graduates or the nature and quality of the education they receive. In The Struggle to Reform Our Colleges, Derek Bok seeks to explain why so little change has occurred by analyzing the response of America’s colleges; the influence of students, employers, foundations, accrediting organizations, and government officials; and the impact of market forces and technological innovation. In the last part of the book, Bok identifies a number of initiatives that could improve the performance of colleges and universities. The final chapter examines the process of change itself and describes the strategy best calculated to quicken the pace of reform and enable colleges to meet the challenges that confront them.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART ONE: THE CHALLENGE -- Chapter One. Graduation Rates and Educational Attainment -- Chapter Two. The Quality of Education -- PART TWO: SOURCES OF INFLUENCE -- Chapter Three. Can Colleges Meet the Challenges by Themselves? -- Chapter Four. The Influence of Students -- Chapter Five. Employers -- Chapter Six. Competition, Old and New -- Chapter Seven. The Major Foundations -- Chapter Eight. The Role of Government in Raising Levels of Educational Attainment -- Chapter Nine. Government Efforts to Improve the Quality of Education -- Chapter Ten. Accreditation -- PART THREE: THE WAY FORWARD -- Chapter Eleven. Increasing Educational Attainment -- Chapter Twelve. Improving the Quality of Education -- Chapter Thirteen. Encouraging Reform -- Notes -- Index