This piece on Arizona State University and ‘The New American University’ is deeply satisfying to read on so many levels:
nadiaeghbal.com/asu
The ideas seem right out of a counter-positioning playbook, which explains why they might work.
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- Counter-position against high prestige Unis by increasing admission rates.
- Use larger student body to build up teaching infra, price as mid-tier but provide high touch teaching.
- Focus on pragmatic applied, multi-disciplinary research.
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Another reason it appeals to me is because you don’t build prestige by making something exclusive.
You build prestige by making something good, and then you do nothing to scale it beyond a certain point.
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At some point ASU’s focus on student success and alumni support (they also invest in continuous learning programs) will outstrip its physical and systemic capability to expand student body, at which point demand will outstrip admissions and it will become prestigious.
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There’s also this incredibly pragmatic adaptation to ‘output over credentials’, which should increase desirability.
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I don't know that much about education reform, but what they're doing here is both novel and pragmatic from both an education and business perspective.
I hope they succeed. (And thank you to for writing this summary!)