Monday, April 27, 2009

Reforming University

Mark Taylor, chairman of the religion department at Columbia, has a very interesting op-ed in the NYT on the major steps it will take to reform institutions of higher learning in order to make them “more agile, adaptive and imaginative”:
1. Restructure the curriculum, beginning with graduate programs and proceeding as quickly as possible to undergraduate programs. . . .

2. Abolish permanent departments, even for undergraduate education, and create problem-focused programs. . . .

3. Increase collaboration among institutions. . . . .

4. Transform the traditional dissertation. . . .

5. Expand the range of professional options for graduate students. . . .

6. Impose mandatory retirement and abolish tenure. . . .
Read the whole thing to see why he thinks the university needs restructured reform and rigorous regulation, and for more details on his alternative proposal.