Strategic Position 159
- Global economic competition: the globalization of technology and the economy
in an interconnected world with the constant outsourcing of U.S. jobs, creating
pockets of unemployment and stagnant middle incomes
Educational Trends: - Expanding and uneven educational access and quality: the steady expansion of
participation in higher education by people of all ages to unprecedented levels,
accompanied by sharply uneven access and quality, with a heavy emphasis
on professional and vocational programs and the loss of centrality for liberal
education - Affordability: the continuing escalation of the price of higher education at rates
well above inflation and increases in family income, creating a permanent and
deepening structural problem of affordability - Engaged learning: a growing focus on engaged, active, and participatory forms
of student learning with inconsistency in application - Market-driven and global competition in higher education: an ever-increasing
competitiveness in education, propelled by market-driven realities, including
new (often proprietary) providers of education; distance learning; the globaliza-
tion of higher education and research, especially in science and technology;
differential pricing through tuition discounting; and various forms of resource-
driven entrepreneurial activity and competitive improvements to facilities and
programs - Rapid expansion of knowledge: a continuing explosion of new knowledge, with
the power to shape the economic future and well-being of human life, both in
individual and collective terms
Social Trends: - Internationalization: the continuing and profound impact of global cultural and
political interaction in both positive and virulent forms, with a profound impact
on curricular content and programs (languages, area studies, cultural and reli-
gious studies) - Diversity and demography: continuing growth in social and educational diver-
sity, increasingly driven by immigration, and in rising overall high school age
cohorts until 2010, when declines will begin in some regions - Public criticism: widespread public doubt, anxiety, and ideological debates about
the cost and the quality of higher education
Technological Change: - Technological transformation: the deep, wide, and continuing global, educa-
tional, and administrative impact of information technologies, including the
rapid growth in distance learning
Using the Environmental Scan
What becomes of the potential mountain of information that is gathered on
these critical educational and other trends? The PEEST categories should provide