Faculty of the Future : Facing the Forces for Change

Financial and technology forces have combined to dramatically change the milieu of higher education. In terms of financial forces, we examine changing student demographics, the level of student debt, shrinking levels of governmental support, and philanthropic limitations. We conclude that the financial model that has served post-secondary education well for many years is now significantly strained. In terms of technology forces, we examine increasing automation of jobs involving predictable processes or finding rules-based answers; the increasing prevelance of outsourcing; and a growing skills/competency gap, both in the general job market and in the accounting profession. Technology advances have transformed academic research and publishing, and have been incorporated into familiar ways of teaching. However, as yet, they have not significantly changed either what we teach (curriculum) or how we teach (pedagogy); changes in these areas may accompany future financial models. We provide examples of institutional responses to date and discuss the importance of strategic planning. We also discuss the arguments for and against individual business and accounting faculty getting involved in efforts to face the forces for change. Concluding thoughts consider the window of time to institute major change and potential future research