Vive la résistance: The persistence of the university education model in a rapidly changing world

“state-owned, self-governing, secular, generalist and focused on professional education – at least for undergraduates, and almost exclusively for commuter students.”

Well, not exactly. Anyone who has worked for a university will realise how entangled ‘self-government’ is in a quasi-marketised environment in which 75 organisations are knocking on the door to also offer degrees. Generalist degrees have been on the decline for years. Increasingly, universities are shifting to blended and online, and are keenly aware of the competition on offer from global leaders in online education and training.