Even before 2011's 9.1-magnitude earthquake and the devastating 15-meter tsunami that followed, Japan had been struggling with tremendous economic and demographic challenges that had forced significant changes to its tertiary education sector. In particular, these challenges had played a crucial role in the development of Japanese continuing…

Analytics has a significant place in the future of higher education by guiding reform and system change. As this case study has shown, analytics can do more than evaluate what students have done and predict what they will do. Learning analytics can be transformative, altering existing pedagogical processes, research, data management, and…

Continuing education is facing greater opportunities and challenges than at any other time in history. In this article, the author focuses on the unique and identifiable circumstances that are presenting distance educators with unprecedented opportunities to assume greater leadership roles in their parent institutions. These opportunities are…

People live and work in an era of transformation and uncertainty; they know that things are changing, but they are not sure where they are headed. One of the key forces of change is the enormous flow of information that individuals and institutions consume and produce. Awareness of knowledge flow is essential, but so is the sense that neither…

The success of the US economy has always been its ability to innovate, create, invent, and commercialize groundbreaking discoveries. Today, Americans seem to be losing their edge and have begun to suffer an "innovation deficit." The authors say re-engineering the entire US educational system in order to foster and enhance necessary creativity and…

In an age of knowledge, the capacities of professional and continuing education to open up new networks, overcome organizational hurdles, and foster an environment for innovation have assumed great relevance. This article makes the case as to why. It discusses key forces driving change--the knowledge economy, demographics, technology, and…

Globalization presents a new social context for educational institutions from elementary schools to universities. In response to this new context, schools and universities are slowly changing their ways. These changes range from altering the curriculum so that students understand the process of globalization itself, or developing competencies…

The paper examines the issue of educational pathways, including a brief overview of the higher education regulatory framework and market forces in Australia, particularly as recent policy reforms and political aspirations affect them. It highlights the key challenges and outlines a potential model for integrating vocational and higher educational…

Factors altering the higher education industry include radical change in the type of students, necessity of lifetime education, and new technologies. These factors are increasing the entry of private-sector players. Strategic university responses may be strengthening of accreditation, cost-cutting and efficiency measures, horizontal…

Recognizing that lifelong learning is broader than continuing education, providers must move to organizational and community models of learning and seek private and philanthropic funding sources for lifelong learning programs. Continuing education professionals should adopt a new orientation to their professional role. (SK)

Current models of university continuing education resemble traditional higher education and do not meet the needs of people in or near retirement. Constraints on change include a mindset focused on formal education as career development, the need for programs to be self-sufficient, and a reward structure that does not support programs for older…

Asserts that many faculty resist distance education, especially for undergraduates; they regard face-to-face as necessary but ignore its quality; they consider good teaching to be faculty centered; their property rights claims seek to preserve their professional role rather than the syllabus itself. (SK)

Forces driving change in professional and continuing education--globalization, technology, and competition--challenge educators to find funding for technology, develop recruitment and reward systems for staff, prune existing programs, and widen markets. Serious efforts to develop the knowledge base on costs and effectiveness of distance education…

Although the boundaries of academia have blurred, the individualistic and disinterested nature of universities remains unique. Three areas of change face university continuing education: the use of for-profit institutions as benchmarks, better application of the philosophy of independent thought, and promotion of the ways in which a university…

Discusses the following trends in British higher education: funding changes, University for Industry, widening access, and revitalization of liberal adult education. Addresses the prospects for an extended role for higher education in lifelong learning and continuing education. (SK)