The Great Upheaval: Higher Education’s Past, Present, and Uncertain Future

Product Description

The United States is in the midst of a profound transformation the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Industrial Revolution, when America’s classical colleges adapted to meet the needs of an emerging industrial economy. Today, as the world shifts to an increasingly interconnected knowledge economy, the intersecting forces of technological innovation, globalization, and demographic change create vast new challenges, opportunities, and uncertainties. In this great upheaval, the nation’s most enduring social institutions are at a crossroads.
In The Great Upheaval, Arthur Levine and Scott Van Pelt examine higher and postsecondary education to see how it has changed to become what it is today—and how it might be refitted for an uncertain future. Taking a unique historical, cross-industry perspective, Levine and Van Pelt perform a 360-degree survey of American higher education. Combining historical, trend, and comparative analysis of other business sectors, they ask

how much will colleges and universities change, what will change, and how will these changes occur?
will institutions of higher learning be able to adapt to the challenges they face, or will they be disrupted by them?
will the industrial model of higher education be repaired or replaced?
why is higher education more important than ever?

The book is neither an attempt to advocate for a particular future direction nor a warning about that future. Rather, it looks objectively at the contexts in which higher education has operated—and will continue to operate. It also seeks to identify likely developments that will aid those involved in steering higher education forward, as well as the many millions of Americans who have a stake in its future.
Concluding with a detailed agenda for action, The Great Upheaval is aimed at policy makers, college administrators, faculty, trustees, and students, as well as general readers and people who work for nonprofits facing the same big changes.

Review

On the subject of higher education, Arthur Levine is astonishingly prescient, spotting trends on the horizon long before they come into focus for the rest of us. In this thoughtful and engaging book, he and Scott Van Pelt offer a clear-eyed assessment of the changes―and the potential disruption―facing colleges and universities. An indispensable guide to rethinking our assumptions about learning and preparing to thrive in a transformed educational landscape. — Rafael Reif

This clearly written book will be of interest to a broad spectrum of readers, including educators, policymakers, nonprofit professionals, students, and families. Levine and Van Pelt focus not only on colleges and universities but also on the challenges and opportunities of the larger postsecondary world, as they explore the dramatically different future of higher education and proposed actions to shape it. — Freeman A. Hrabowski III

A crisp, cogent case for the future of higher education in America. Levine and Van Pelt argue that technological change is empowering consumers in new ways and offers innovative ideas about how higher ed can address these changes. Bravo to the authors for being clear-eyed instead of overwrought, suggesting a positive way forward for a critically important institution. — Deborah Quazzo

With tectonic shifts underway in higher education, The Great Upheaval could not be more timely. Levine and Van Pelt smartly outline the challenges facing the industry and suggest ways for institutions, policy makers, and funders to respond. A well-researched, well-written, and measured analysis fueled by a burning urgency to see higher education reclaim its central role in the American promise of opportunity and social mobility for all. — Paul J. LeBlanc

An easy read on a complex topic. Levine and Van Pelt reject the forced choices for higher education of ‘Stay the course!’ or ‘The sky is falling!’ They claim higher education is undergoing significant transformation and a