The purpose of this campaign is to develop a dialogue around the greater objective of post-secondary school. What is the primary goal of higher education? How do institutions account for a wide range of student and faculty needs and their respective goals? What is the current climate of higher education and where do we need it to be in 50 years?
The undergraduate model grew from an apprenticeship-based approach, where an expert in a particular area would share their knowledge with students in a linear way. The purpose of this discussion is to explore the new relationship between student and institution, and how an institution might be hired to accomplish a range of goals that are more or less subjective to each student. Where universities were traditionally important tools of disseminating knowledge, institutions are now hired to teach students what to do with an oversaturation of information. In many ways, the introduction of digital means that instructors are no longer the sole gatekeepers of knowledge – students in this generation grew up a much wider scope of information at their disposal, far beyond what books and other analog media had to offer. This means that we might be looking to instructors to not only pass on their research, but to also teach students what to do with the plethora information at their students’ disposal.