Universities in crisis as they lack creative innovation
The current difficulties faced by universities in New Zealand are not unexpected. This is so for reasons that all sides of the higher education eco-system will likely find uncomfortable.
Falling enrolments, rising costs and a continued commitment to models of education and curriculum that are outdated and inflexible have culminated in budget deficits in the tens of millions at many New Zealand institutions. This predicament is not new or unexpected.
Before the pandemic there was a growing realisation that the global higher education industry was in crisis. Some commentators had contended that 50% of all universities in the United States, for example, would be out of business within 10 to 15 years.
Closer to home, 11 of New Zealand’s 16 polytechnics were running serious deficits before the pandemic. And employers were also asking fundamental questions about the relevance of a university qualification.
Universities have been around for a long time. Their nature as slow moving and, perhaps ironically, their commitment to traditional drivers of our freemarket economy have helped insulate them.
They have weathered wars, peacetime prosperity, natural disasters, economic crashes and resulting depressions. They have, in many senses of the phrase, been the epitome of ‘‘resilient businesses’’.
But the foundation of the freemarket economy has been turned on its head. Employers are increasingly indicating they need critical and creative thinkers, those who can communicate, understand complexity, deal with uncertainty, are able to drive collaboration across multiple players and can understand the diversity of our society relating that to their
specialised discipline.
However, the development of our ‘‘knowledge about knowledge’’ seems to have stalled almost 170 years ago. The divisions of disciplines in universities since the 1850s are unnervingly similar to those in the modern university of
2023. Little attempt has been made (and even less succeeded) to cross pollinate areas of expertise.
Examples of problems that need such thinking are all around us – pollution of our rivers, roading, infrastructure, economic development, sustainability, almost all scientific challenges and all social and economic issues. All require a multidisciplinary approach to applied problem-solving.
In order to facilitate this universities need to change. They (like most organisations in our society) are poor at multi-partner collaboration (joint ventures are about as good as it gets – where multiple-partner relationships do exist they are the exception rather than the rule).
C
urricular development is too often uncreative, focused on overassessment, a minute focus on regulatory compliance and lacking flexibility and engagement for the benefit of the learner. Further, New Zealand’s universities spend millions in marketing against one another, and their regulations are uncoordinated and stifle the mobility of students from other universities or from polytechnic or private education providers.
Alternative models, such as degree apprenticeships, and work to transition students from polytechnic studies to continued, life-long learning are effectively non-existent. New Zealand universities slavishly focus on international rankings under the guise that the international student market is only interested in rankings.
And the approval of new programmes effectively requires all New Zealand universities to approve or reject the innovation of each other. This drives mediocrity and stifles true innovation.
New Zealand has developed a reputation for high quality higher education. But the days of these institutions being primarily degree factories is over.
They must work towards being hubs of community, business, academic and government innovation for our collective resolution of complex problems.