ABSTRACT
The higher education model of lecturing and examination has hardly changed for centuries. Now, three disruptive waves are threatening to change established ways of teaching and learning. On one front, there is a funding crisis. Institutions’ costs are rising, owing to pricey investments in technology, teachers’ salaries and hefty administrative fees. This comes as governments conclude that they can no longer afford to subsidize universities as generously as they used to. At the same time, a technological revolution is challenging higher education’s business model. An explosion in online learning, much of it free, means that the knowledge once imparted to a lucky few has been released to anyone with a smartphone or laptop. These financial and technological disruptions coincide with a third great change: whereas universities used to educate a tiny elite, they are now responsible for training and retraining workers throughout their careers.
