The attached link will bring you to an article regarding  responses to the challenges facing higher education today.  Most of the article focuses on cost cutting- because that seems to be the shiny trinket today- but there are many more fundamental forces at work in this issue- the challenge is for the “smart guys in our society to act smartly”.

Cutting costs will only get you the chance to stay in the game a bit longer- Thinking and acting in the strategically and in the context of the multiple realities of Higher Education challenges might enable you to win the game

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/12/09/private-colleges-remain-under-weather

The real challenge is that if you only think of it as a cost issue- you will miss the boat completely. While perhaps new to higher education, getting your cost structure in line with your revenue realities is really only the first, triaging and fundamental step.

More importantly, you have to understand your competitive stance and make decisions and allocate resources in directions that can be positive for you. That thinking needs to take place with a firm recognition that Higher education is an industry with excess capacity at almost every turn. The pattern and history of this problem are well known, and it is straight forward to predict the outcomes from the most likely scenarios. The real advantage in dealing with this issue will flow to the early movers– those that understand the strategic viewpoint and their real position in that context– and plan and act prudently and practically from that point of view.

This is important work for our society and I hope that Universities will act – and act rationally.