Modify and Adapt: Global Higher Education in a Changing Economy

The combinations of global networking and digital delivery have intense repercussions for higher education administrators who confront a magnitude of opportunities and challenges as the result of the digital revolution. Much of the reaction to technological change comes from those with a vested interest in either wholesale change or maintaining the status quo. Taking the resilience metaphor from ecology, the authors propose a framework for analyzing an institution's ability to adapt to digital challenges. To compete in today's economic environment, higher education institutions must become more adaptive, responding more quickly to changing expectations from society, politicians and customers. The non-linear approach to problem-solving evident in higher education and society in general, reflects a need to be more flexible, adaptive to alternative techniques and willing to invest in a new culture designed to acquire knowledge rather than specific solutions. This level of organizational flexibility and responsiveness fuels university performance. In the globally competitive and commercialized start to the 21st Century there has been a considerable increase in the demands for higher education institutions to provide additional global access, and increase opportunities while simultaneously reducing budgets. Globalization and technology have introduced critical alterations to higher education institutions. The context of education has become dynamic, energetic, and economically driven. The emerging technologies have rapidly turned knowledge to power. In this context knowledge is viewed as a commodity that can be managed (bought and sold) while being a vibrant source of social activity and learning.