Higher education redefined

We were fortunate to have Dr. David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, at UIS last week to talk about major changes in higher education during the past several decades. He stressed that public higher education is now in a global setting where competition is very rigorous. At the same time, tuition has risen dramatically due to declines in state funding. "It is hard to find a university president in the public sector who isn't concerned with providing the capital to find a way to keep the excellence flourishing," he said. In his presentation of the 26th David Dodds Henry Lecture in UIS' Brookens Auditorium, Dr. Ward emphasized that affordability and accountability in the global knowledge economy will need to be redefined.