The Stanford Social Innovation Review recently published an article addressing the current transitional state of many Universities. With changing student demographics, new technology and various stakeholder interests it is forcing many institutions to reconsider their current processes and methods for delivering education. To meet these new challenges, Universities need to look at redesigning their core functions, design thinking offers a pathway for achieving this.
Design Thinking in Higher Education
Out with the old, in with the new
- Tradition drives many colleges and universities in regards to decision making over resources, production, and sources of authority
- This rigorous standardization served higher education well until recently, now today’s environment demands greater flexibility and innovation
Design Solutions
- Colleges and universities will need to teach new material to a wide variety of students at a larger scales
- Many problems in higher educations are the result of failures to lead design-driven adaptation
New Audience, New Opportunities
- Prior to the 1980s, higher education was almost exclusively focused on educating young learners.
- Currently students who attend four year universities and live on campus make up only a portion of all US undergraduates.
New way of thinking
- Design thinking offers a way to transform universities into adaptive institutions, that can respond to both their legacy and new emerging markets.
Read the Article
Design Thinking for Higher Education
To meet the challenges of a new era, universities should redesign their core functions while also creating capacities to reach emerging and underserved markets. Open-access to this article made possible by BYU-Pathway Worldwide & ASU’s Center for Organization Research and Design.
