Where higher education is headed in the 21st century: Unbundling the clock, curriculum and credential

By Anant Agarwal
When massive open online courses (MOOCs) first launched over four years ago, we had no idea what to expect. And even today – with dozens of global institutions and millions of learners participating – we, as an industry, have so much more to learn as we puzzle out online education.

One thing that both supporters and critics of online education agree on is that the MOOC movement has ignited a spirited conversation about the future of higher education. I am often asked where the greatest opportunities for residential campuses to evolve are.

I certainly do not have all the answers, but i know that today’s students want a broad education. They also want to fold in industry experience. As a result, many educators are now asking probing questions about traditional degree pathways. Should we require university students to obtain a degree in a specialised field? Should the concept of a degree as the defining credential itself be revisited? Shifting from traditional approaches might even change the very manner in which universities are structured, and unbundling will be key to these shifts.

While there are substantial benefits to students coming to campus to work closely together with faculty, we should re-examine why four years on campus is considered to be a magic number for a college degree programme.

Why not imagine an alternative path of life-long continuous education, where students come into college after having taken the first year subjects through MOOCs or other advanced courses during high school or pre-university? In searching for answers to these questions, we should consider unbundling the clock, the curriculum and the credential. Unbundling the clock might mean that a student takes the first year of college fully online, maybe even while in high school.

The student would then study for two years in person at a university to experience what my MIT colleague Sanjay Sarma calls the “magic of campus”. This would be followed by a stint in the workforce to gain real-world skills. Finally, he or she would take MOOCs or other online courses as needed throughout their career – in place of the traditional final year.

I do acknowledge that although two years might be more affordable, it is unlikely to provide the same rich campus experience as a four-year programme. As such, those students with means might still opt for the four-year experience.

However, by unbundling the clock, we’re able to provide a wider variety of options and open up the college experience to students who might otherwise have not had the chance to participate. In such a lifelong continuous education world, universities might also be able to unbundle the curriculum. Traditional, three-year or four-year higher education institutions try to provide all types of content and degree programmes to learners. While this is possible for some of the older institutions, newer colleges find it harder due to the challenges in attracting professors, building out curricula, etc.

Unbundling the curriculum can address this challenge by focussing on what the university cares most about, for example, a broad liberal arts education, while allowing their students to take a programme in computer science online from a third party provider or an online learning destination, such as edX. Unbundling the credential will offer even more educational opportunities.

This might mean that a student obtains a digital credential for a smaller amount of online work, for example a MicroMaster’s credential, for about six months worth of online Master’s level work. This microcredential can stand on its own, showing knowledge in a field, can be paired with other credentials or can lead to and be incorporated in campus programmes.

By offering a variety of unbundled opportunities, we can tear down the current one-size-fits-all model of college and open the doors to more determined students. I truly believe this is where residential campuses are headed with their approach and it represents the future of higher education overall.

(The writer is an MIT Professor and CEO of edX, a nonprofit online learning destination. He is also advisor, Bennett University.)