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IV.
Threats and Opportunities
The
Committee believes that the following threats to traditional
business and accounting programs arise from developments in
the environment:
- IT
capabilities of non-traditional deliverers - Corporate
universities and for-profit universities are increasingly
exploiting IT in delivering post-secondary education any
time, any place, at the students' convenience, which will
make them increasingly competitive in the marketplace. In
particular, corporate universities, in developing innovative
approaches to education, will be able to draw upon in-house
IT capabilities developed in other corporate activities
(which generally far exceed capabilities found in
universities). Davis and Botkin (1994, p. 65) observe that
the emerging mega-industry being created by the union of
computers, communications, entertainment, media, and
publishing will deliver education and learning in such new
ways and in such vast amounts that it may well displace
schools as the major deliverer of learning.
- Specialized
training/education - Corporate universities and
for-profit universities will increasingly offer specialized
education and training in "certificate" programs
that meet the "credential" needs of life-long
learners.
- Relevant
curricula - Corporate universities and for-profit
universities focus on "applied" education and
training that students often perceive to be more relevant to
their pursuit of professional goals. On the other hand,
faculties at most traditional business and accounting
programs lack real-world business contact and hence, the
curricula are less relevant.
- Proliferation
of market "niches" - As the number of
non-traditional deliverers of post-secondary education
continues to increase and competition intensifies,
traditional institutions trying to be "all things to
all students" will find their markets quickly eroded by
"niche" competitors. Davis and Botkin (1994, p.92)
point out that businesses are asking business schools to
make significant changes in the way they operate, including
the need to: a) customize to specific company and industry
needs; b) deliver to remote sites rather than traveling to a
distant campus; and c) deliver on students' time schedules
rather than by semesters.
- Institutional
consolidation - Those institutions that have geographic
and/or reputational dominance will survive while those
suffering market erosion from niche competitors may
disappear or turn into service units rather than
degree-granting units.
- Expanded
information set - As students recognize the need for
understanding a broad set of information for decision
making, traditional accounting programs that focus on
GAAP/GAAS will suffer.
- Resource
constraints - The need to reengineer traditional
business and accounting programs in order to compete
effectively with non-traditional deliverers will require
substantial resources beyond those available at many
universities.
- Timely,
continuous change - Non-traditional deliverers will be
continually introducing new curricula [new content and/or
new delivery approaches], and they will do so in a timely
fashion, placing emphasis on short cycle times. Those
traditional institutions that view change in education
processes as episodic rather than continuous will find
themselves always lagging behind practice. Hence, their
programs will become less and less attractive to students.
- Reward
structures - Deans/directors of corporate universities
and for-profit universities indicate that reward structures
are explicitly linked to the perceived relevance of
curricula. In contrast, reward structures within traditional
business and accounting programs generally do not encourage
such behaviors.
The
Committee also believes that the following opportunities for
traditional business and accounting programs arise from
developments in the environment:
- Life-long
learning - Employer and employee recognition of the need
for life-long learning, which in large measure is driving
the growth in corporate universities, creates an enormous
market opportunity in post-secondary education for
traditional programs as well. For example, life-long
learning needs suggests the possibility of elevating short
courses and continuing education programs to a much higher
priority position within academic deliverables.
- Information
technology - IT provides the means for developing new
innovative approaches for delivering educational materials
to students when and where they need it and in a form that
meets their personal learning styles. It is a major "enabler"
underlying the growth in new deliverers and it can also play
the same role within traditional business and accounting
programs.
- Infrastructure
- Traditional universities generally have in place a pool of
technical and creative resources (faculty, staff, and other
resources) that has the potential for supporting innovation
in business and accounting education.
- Partnerships/alliances
- Traditional business and accounting programs generally
have in place long-standing relationships with employers,
advisory councils, alumni, and private funding sources that
offer opportunities for creative partnerships and alliances
directed to reengineering outdated curricula. For example,
as schools focus more externally on customers, they will
inevitably form a variety of unique partnerships in order to
satisfy those needs most efficiently and effectively.
Partnerships can run the gamut of those between two similar
universities, two different universities (such as
cross-border partnerships), between schools and employers,
etc. These agreements might provide an opportunity to
leverage resources and provide opportunities and/or
resources that would not otherwise be available. Each
arrangement will be unique based on the attributes of the
university and the needs of the customer group they are
trying to address. Some examples of current partnerships
include: international exchange programs, internships (for
both faculty and students), consortiums of different
universities (for example, the Claremont Colleges and the
Associated Colleges of the South). In the near future,
partnerships may include "branded" graduate
programs for a specific employer, special relationships with
large single employers, access to proprietary information by
a single school and a partnership between a school and an
employer to satisfy the 150 hour requirement.
- Market-driven
education - A number of approaches may be pursued in
customizing programs that involve choices among customizing
elements, including technology integration, which will
impact pedagogy, learning methods, the environment, access
to learning materials, globalization of curriculum and the
timing of learning (any time/anyplace, just-in-time
learning).
The
next section identifies elements of an action plan that the
AAA and its members should consider in dealing with the
changing environment for post-secondary education.
[Executive
Summary] [Appendix]
[Bibliography]
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