ABSTRACT
As widely recognized by the authors of these chapters, as well as throughout academia (e.g., Duderstadt, 2000), higher education is at the cusp of major and dramatic change. Not only is the impact of rapidly evolving information technology shaping how we conduct our business, but also more fundamentally what our business is. Our primary student base is growing well beyond young adults who can study full-time to the entire adult population, most of whom are also employed in full-time jobs. As many of these working professionals receive financial support and sometimes released time for their education, their employers frequently influence the type, quality, length, and even the location of the education that is subsidized. Thus, the choices of what and where students study are no longer simply the province of students and their parents, but increasingly the domain of employees and employers. Such customers will inevitably be more demanding, skeptical, and impatient with the quality, quantity, and price of education than inexperienced and partially informed young adults.
