The Innovative University - Clayton M. Christensen, Henry J. Eyring

The language of crisis is nothing new in higher education-for years critics have raisedalarms about rising tuition, compromised access, out of control costs, and a host of otherissues. Yet, though those issues are still part of the current crisis, it is not the same aspast ones. For the first time, disruptive technologies are at work in higher education. Formost of their histories, traditional universities and colleges have had no serious competitionexcept from institutions with similar operating models. Now, though, there are disruptivecompetitors offering online degrees. Many of these institutions operate as for-profit entities,emphasizing marketable degrees for working adults. Traditional colleges and universitieshave valuable qualities and capacities that can offset those disruptors' advantages-butnot for everyone who aspires to higher education, and not without real innovation. How caninstitutions of higher education think constructively and creatively about their response toimpending disruption?Written by Clayton Christensen, the father of the theory of disruptive innovation, and hiscolleague,Henry J. Eyring, The Innovative University offers a nuanced and hopeful analysis ofthe traditional university and its DNA. It explores how and why universities must change toensure future success.Throughout the book Christensen and Eyring show what it takes to apply Christensen'sacclaimed model of disruptive innovation to a higher education environment. Through apenetrating examination of the histories and current transformations of two very differentuniversities-Harvard and BYU-Idaho-and using other illustrative examples of innovationin higher education, The Innovative University explores how universities can find innovative,less costly ways of performing their uniquely valuable functions and thereby save themselvesfrom decline. The book explores the strategic choices and alternative ways in which traditionaluniversities can change to ensure their ongoing economic vitality. To avoid the pitfallsof disruption and turn the scenario into a positive and productive one, universities mustre-engineer their institutional DNA from the inside out.The Innovative University reveals how the traditional university survives by breaking withtradition, but thrives by building upon what it's done best.