There is of course the change over the last few decades by which universities have become a third stage of standard education rather than a voluntary pursuit of possibly esoteric learning. This has been brought about by a number of factors, but has (I think) led to more education, which is a good thing. Of course, to offset the cost of 4 years of school and 4 "lost" years of productivity, students want degrees that will improve their odds of getting a job. That pretty much explains the shift towards professional training.
Bringing the universities to everyone also means broadening the offerings — originally when it was only the erudition-inclined or well-to-do, a university could get away with having a great deal of humanities and other fields that do not generate grants or jobs. It was learning for learning's sake, which few could afford.
I do think we're approaching an inflection point in the future at which some major universities will fight back against this trend. But because this will be expensive to them and their students, I don't think it will happen soon. We need a time of extraordinary prosperity in which money can be lavished on social services and education, and that's not today or the next ten years.
It's sad, but I'm hoping it's a transitional phase, not a final one.
There's something of a shift toward professional training, but there still seem to be a glut of students entering college without a clear idea of what they're getting out of it or what it will cost them. Pressured to attend by the social expectation that everyone should go to college, the now-foolish guidance many in my generation received of "do what you love," and the ready supply of student loans, students are still throwing themselves into the gaping maw of debt and degrees that are not useful to them in the workforce. (I am very lucky that, for me, "do what you love" ended up meaning the field of computer science).
What we need is to break out of this idea that everyone must attend university "or else you'll be a garbageman" or whatever they were telling us in school growing up.
There is of course the change over the last few decades by which universities have become a third stage of standard education rather than a voluntary pursuit of possibly esoteric learning. This has been brought about by a number of factors, but has (I think) led to more education, which is a good thing. Of course, to offset the cost of 4 years of school and 4 "lost" years of productivity, students want degrees that will improve their odds of getting a job. That pretty much explains the shift towards professional training.
Bringing the universities to everyone also means broadening the offerings — originally when it was only the erudition-inclined or well-to-do, a university could get away with having a great deal of humanities and other fields that do not generate grants or jobs. It was learning for learning's sake, which few could afford.
I do think we're approaching an inflection point in the future at which some major universities will fight back against this trend. But because this will be expensive to them and their students, I don't think it will happen soon. We need a time of extraordinary prosperity in which money can be lavished on social services and education, and that's not today or the next ten years.
It's sad, but I'm hoping it's a transitional phase, not a final one.