Two long-serving presidents with unusually broad vision—representing both the private and public sectors—closed the Presidents Institute with a spirited discussion of key issues in higher education. Robert Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities, and Stephen Trachtenberg, president emeritus and university professor of public service at George Washington University, stressed the need to revalue aspects of higher education that recently have come under fire.

Berdahl maintained that the current status of higher education today encompasses two extreme views. On the one hand, “there is greater recognition than ever before of the importance of higher education and the need to get a good education. More students are seeking degrees and are more concerned about getting into the best institutions, and colleges and universities are playing more important roles than ever in leading the country into the future and increasing the nation’s competitiveness abroad,” Berdahl said. Countering those views, however, are widespread criticisms about “accountability, access, college costs and the failure to control costs, large endowments at wealthy elite universities, the commodification of higher education, and the loss of regard for the liberal arts core.” He said colleges are partly to blame for such attitudes because they constantly stress the economic benefits of a college degree. Berdahl emphasized the need to “remake the case for liberal education as preparation for global citizenship” and to “get back to more need-based aid and give more thought to diversity.”

“The growing disparity of wealth in the United States is also reflected in colleges and universities,” he noted, citing the impact of Harvard’s new tuition policy [replacing loans with grants for middle- and upper-income families] on less wealthy, more tuition-dependent institutions. “This will create serious problems and intensify the visible gap between public and private institutions and the haves and have-nots in terms of resources.”

On that issue, Trachtenberg questioned, “Why [is Harvard being] so generous now? I’m curious about whether this decision was made with any appreciation of the fact that a change of such a dramatic nature would have an impact on the 4,000 other colleges and universities in the United States.... When people hear of Harvard’s $35 billion endowment, the perception is that we’re all wealthy. How do we explain to parents that we can’t all do what a handful of institutions are going to do?” Trachtenberg protested that Harvard should have initiated “some degree of conversation within the higher education community” before making such a dramatic policy change. “There needs to be greater interaction among all colleges and universities,” he stressed, suggesting the need to “find ways to make common cause and common voice to the public and the next administration, and to look at how to do what we do more cheaply, transparently, and effectively….”

Trachtenberg thinks questions about accountability in higher education are legitimate and does not believe resources are used effectively enough. “Look at the university calendar—it’s only 28 weeks—there’s a big disparity between that and the 52-week calendar. If we used more of those weeks, we could have an entire other semester and get more use out of our very expensive facilities. This would allow us to take in more students and educate more people…. If we used all 12 months of the year, we could move students along more quickly and many more would graduate in three years. This could have a huge impact,” he said.

Participants during the question and answer period asked how U.S. institutions should respond to the goal of the European Union to grant degrees within three years. Berdahl noted that U.S. students who take AP courses and who choose to can, in fact, graduate in fewer than four years, but that the three-year degree does not need to be a goal in the U.S. “It is curious that 100 years ago a BA degree took four years to obtain and we assume it takes four years now – and that the expansion of knowledge in the last 100 years doesn’t change the amount of time to degree.” Trachtenberg said the move to a three-year degree “raises significant questions about how we recognize [European] degrees and what this means for Americans going abroad.”

Another concern with international higher education is the proliferation of universities around the world that are focusing intensely on business, engineering, and science to the exclusion of liberal education. Berdhal urged presidents to get the word out to the international community that “higher education is not simply about conducting research or training scientific or technical experts—it’s about creating global citizens, cultivated minds, and disciplined thinking.” Trachtenberg agreed, noting that students around the world need a comprehensive educational experience like that provided by CIC institutions. “These small liberal arts colleges are a precious segment of American higher education” that should be (but are not yet) replicated worldwide.