Evolution and Overview of the Formal Study of Higher Education

Timothy R. Cain

IHE

Overview• Introduction• Origins and Development of the

Field in the United States• The Institute of Higher Education• Contexts of American Higher

Education

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The Study of Higher Education

• “a field of study, a scholarly inquiry, concerned with the behavioral interaction of students, faculty, and administrators within the context of a college or university environment, and the interrelationship of this environment with the larger society.” (Burnett, 1973, p. 5)

• “Higher education as a field of study includes research, service, and formally organized programs of instruction in postsecondary education leading to a master’s degree, educational specialist or other two-year certificate or degree, or doctorate whether oriented toward teaching, service, institutional research, or scholarship.” (Dressel & Mayhew, 1974, p. 2)

• “The field of ‘Higher Education’ is the systematic analysis of colleges and universities. It is an area which draws from such academic disciplines as history, sociology, economics, anthropology, and psychology.” (Thelin, 1982, p. 3)

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The Study of Higher Education

• “Higher Education in the United States is one of the largest enterprises to have ever emerged in any society. As with medicine, law, and religion, it becomes the responsibility of our profession to not only prepare future scholars and leaders for this vast enterprise. It is also absolutely necessary that we generate useful information to be used in the planning, administration, assessment, and future design of this vast and complex system. In the opinion of most, higher education does not represent an academic discipline. Rather, it represents a profession and area of scholarly study that plays an increasingly central role in our society. By that standard alone it deserves serious attention, inquiry, and analysis.” (Simpson, 2000, p. 84)

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Origins• People have been writing about higher education in the

United States for centuries, though little of the early writing was based on research.

• Era after the US Civil War (1861-1865) was one of vibrancy and change, including experimentation

• Formal study of higher education in the United States is roughly 120 years old.

• Earliest recognized publications were institutional histories, which helped legitimate in-depth studies of higher education organizations

• Anthropological, ecological, and administrative studies emerged at the turn of the 20th century (Hearn, 2000).

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Origins• First coursework on higher education launched at

Clark University in 1893

• Course designed to cover “educational legislation, administration and financial methods, buildings, supervision, [curriculum], training of teachers, Examinations and Literature” as well as “The Constitutions of Universities, with historical ketches and descriptions of typical institutions, both European and American; the relations of Government to Science in various countries; Learned Societies, Associations, and Academies; the Three Learned Professions; Technical Education, Art Schools, etc.” (Hall, 1891, p. 1-2, as cited in Goodchild, 2014, p. 17).

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Origins• “To my mind there should always be a specialist [at

Clark University] and in every institution in what may be called the higher pedagogy and in academic history, whose business it is to keep keenly alive to all that is doing in academic life the world over…. The time is at hand when university rectorates, presidencies, chancellorships, or whatever their name, can no longer be filled by any professor or even outsiders who can secure election, but will require men who, whatever else they are or know, are experts in the history of higher culture and its institutions.” (Hall, 1914, pp. 250-251, as cited by Goodchild, 2014, p. 16).

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Expansion of Graduate Study in the Early 20th Century

• Programs in higher education developed at a handful of universities in the 1910s and 1920s.

• “The demands made upon our colleges and universities, especially since the World War, for an enlarged and more effective service have stimulated a widespread professional interest in problems of higher education…. Positive efforts are being made to ‘educate the educators.’” (Palmer, 1930, p. 334)

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Growth of Research• Increased research from both inside and outside

of the academy

• Influenced by German traditions of social science which were brought back by US scholars who had studied abroad, psychological, sociological studies of organizations, policy analyses, and economic studies joined the historical, ecological, anthropological, and administration studies (Hearn, 2000)

• Journal of Higher Education founded in 1930

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Mid-20th Century• Formal (1947), and then endowed (1954),

professorships

• Carnegie Foundation funds three individuals to create centers on higher education in the mid-1950s, a key step in creating the modern field– T.R. McConnell, California-Berkeley: students,

diversity, community college, state-wide coordination– Earl McGrath, Columbia: liberal arts colleges, general

and professional education– Algo Henderson, Michigan: organizations, public

policy, history, law, and community colleges

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Solidification of the Field• By 1970, there were 86 degree

granting programs in higher education, some attached to research units.

• Three emphases: higher education administration, two-year colleges, student affairs

• Beginning of the slow shift to faculty trained in higher education programs, rather than

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Solidification of the Field• Scholars of higher education began gathering at

the annual meetings of the American Association of Higher Education.

• Eventually formed the Association of Professors of Higher Education, which became the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in 1976.

• Other higher education associations formed, as well, including the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) in 1965.

• Under Clark Kerr, Carnegie Commission produces more than 50 reports over 13 years

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Modern Era• More than 200 programs offering

graduate degrees in higher education

• Research infrastructures outside of higher education include federal and state agencies, professional associations, think tanks, and major philanthropies

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Big Issues• 4 A’s: Access, Attrition, Affordability, and

Accountability (Berdahl, Altbach, & Gumport, 2011)– Access: For whom? To what? Is it differentiated?– Attrition: Why do students leave? Which students leave?

How can they be retained through graduation, or brought back for completion?

– Affordability: Who should pay and how? What financial models work? How can institutions be more efficient?

– Accountability: Relationship to academic freedom? Who is responsible for student learning? How can we demonstrate it? What say should the public/the government have in a mass system and in tight economic times? For what should institutions be accountable?

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2014 ASHE Program• Student Inputs: Access, College Choice,

Demsgraphics, K-16 Transitions• Student Environments: Programming, Activities,

Matriculation, Development• Student Outcomes: Persistence, Learning, Graduation,

Careers• Organization, Administration, and Leadership• Teaching, Learning and Assessment• Faculty• Context, Foundations, and Methods• Policy, Finance, and Economics• International

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ASHE Readers• Economics and Finance• Planning and Institutional

Athletics• Organization and

Governance• Public Policy• Philanthropy, Volunteerism

and Fundraising• Community Colleges• History• Foundations• Comparative Education

• Faculty• Curriculum• Teaching and

Learning• Assessment &

Evaluation• College Students• College Student

Development• Student Affairs

Administration• Racial and Ethnic

Diversity

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AERA Division: Postsecondary Education

• College Student Learning and Development

• College Student Access, Success and Outcomes

• Organization, Management, and Leadership

• Faculty, Curriculum, and Teaching• Policy, Finance, and Economics• Society, Culture, and Change

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Concerns• Discipline vs. Field Issues• Do we lose something by training most of

our faculty in higher education programs?• Tension between applied and theoretical

research• Has something been lost by emphasizing

research and doctoral education, over short courses for working administrators?

• How useful is higher education research? To what extent is it used?

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Institute of Higher Education

• The Institute’s original mission was primarily public service and research. Its three charges were to: – “To recruit and assist people preparing for

college faculty and other college staff positions.”– “To conduct institutional studies for the

University of Georgia”– “To work with colleges and higher education

agencies in developing research and other cooperative endeavors for the improvement of colleges and universities.”

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Mission of IHE• To improve postsecondary education policy and practice in

the state, region, and beyond, in order to:• produce the highest quality policy-relevant research;• educate both scholars and practitioners capable of producing

and applying such research;• provide expertise to help guide postsecondary policy

formulation and implementation; and• promote the highest quality teaching in Georgia's colleges

and universities;• support the scholarship and activities of first-rate public

service and outreach; and• ensure that the Institute of Higher Education will be regarded

as the model of excellence in higher education, recognized for its integration of teaching, research and outreach.

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Strategic Themes• Effectiveness and change in higher

education

Postsecondary education policy

Science, technology, and economic development

InstitutionalChange

Postsecondary

Education Policy

Science, Technology,

and Economic Development

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Academic Programs • Traditional research-based Ph.D.• Masters Degree Program with final

applied project, rather than a thesis• Executive Education Doctorate,

meeting every six weeks for five days at a time, with international experiences and an applied dissertation