Response to 3 Suggestions for For-Profits

I agree, I agree, and I agree.

It may seem simple but I agree with everything Joshua Kim says in his article, 3 Suggestions for For-Profits. As someone who has dedicated his career to higher education and the last eight-years at a for-profit I want all of higher education to succeed. I also want my institution to succeed and provide the best possible education and learning outcomes to the students that enroll. Below are my comments concerning Joshua Kim’s three suggestions.

Suggestion #1: Commit to Transparency

I agree. This goes well beyond my pay grade but I agree that transparency should be the norm, not the exception.

Suggestion #2: Elevate the Autonomy, Visibility, and Status of Your Faculty

I agree. As someone who works directly with faculty, I want to elevate the autonomy, visibility, and status of the faculty. At my institution we have faculty members who are 100% committed to their students and work tirelessly for their success. We have faculty members who have graduated from directional schools and others who have graduated from elite institutions; they all care about the learning outcomes of the students. I want to see articles by my faculty at conferences, journals, The Chronicle, and Inside HigherEd, and have them state proudly that they teach for my institution and to be rewarded for their efforts.

Suggestion #3: Provide leadership in Partnering with Non-Profit Institutions:

I completely agree. I would love to see my institution partner with the Arizona institutions (proximity) and anyone else who will have us including elites. For-profits have experience that traditional institutions do not have; traditional institutions have experience that for-profits do not have. Educating America is a huge task and is not taken lightly by anyone; every level of higher education needs to work together to figure out how to educate America’s adult students.

But where do we start? Suggestion number one and two have to be taken up by individual for-profits. Concerning suggestion number three all it takes is for one person at a for-profit to start talking to one person at a traditional institution. They will need to work together, build a relationship of trust, get the buy-in of leadership, and change higher education, one partnership at a time.