RE: Could this be death of one or more of directional schools
Apologies for length, but it took more than a few words to get thoughts out on this ...
In addition to Northern's tradition as a weekend "suitcase school," we've already seen a shift toward commuting, part-time and on-line, and the Covid-19 crisis is pushing that trend into a shorter timeframe. Illinois has a good two-year college system, and costs are less there for freshman and sophomore students. I can see the university shifting more toward juniors and seniors, graduate and doctoral students. Though athletics would still draw full undergraduate enrollment, that's a relatively small percentage of total enrollment.
Imo, the shift would be from 4-5 years (frosh through senior graduation), to 4-5 years (start with two-year associate degree, junior-senior years, graduation, and two years to master's). Same amount of time at NIU, but at different levels with stronger career focus.
The shift more toward juniors, seniors, graduate and doctoral students could help Northern elevate both the professionalism and quality of its faculty, and its research reputation. Students at those levels are closer to their graduations and careers, and tend to be more serious and less inclined to change majors or drop out. All of that, in turn, would add greater value to the cost of attending a major university.
With all of the focus now on no sports, this tends to get shuffled off to the side, but it's a huge shift in the definition of higher education. Northern could become more of an Upper Midwest regional university and shed the in-state directional tag. There's no need to change the name, just the focus.
Likewise, the recent emphasis on health informatics and combining the health-related disciplines is right time, right place, right school. And don't forget, Northern also has the strengths of good business, engineering, law and some other programs, so it's not one-dimensional.
I see all this as a strength and, because Northern already went through the leaning process when the state had no budget, I think NIU is better-prepped for the trend than a lot of G5 schools.
(This post was last modified: 04-07-2020 06:00 PM by pvk75.)
|