European-American University™

Editorial

Welcome to the first newsletter of European-American University (formerly the University for Self-Empowerment), a new global online university that will open its doors to the public in late 2007. The University is in the midst of a program of rapid development as it prepares for its life and mission as a global institution operating through the medium of the Internet.

The process of development is one that has required a great deal of determined hard work and that continues to occupy much of the time of our senior officers under the direction of the Society for Humanistic Potential, the University's parent organization. The core task which we have had to address is to define closely the projected institutional mission and work out how best practically to fulfil this.

As we work towards growth and development in this stage of our existence, we are aware that our freedom - both from external constraints and as an organic consequence of our philosophy of education - has permitted a significant response to the needs of the present day world, and in particular the "real world" arena of business. Everywhere adults are calling for education to be flexible, responsive and tailored to their needs and situation. The response of traditional institutions tends to be to protect their existing structures and methods, because meaningful change will involve dismantling not only the campus system as we know it, but also the tenure system. In the university of the future, the campus system will reduce its scope to accommodate only those activities that need physical facilities for their successful conduct. The public will use their local research libraries rather than needing campus membership to access such public facilities. Instructors will increasingly be hired as adjuncts as and when needed, rather than supported through tenure regardless of the value for money this system offers. Researchers will gravitate towards specialist institutes of excellence rather than every university feeling that it must offer the same mix of subject disciplines.

Predictions are frequently hostages to fortune, but it is not hard to see the "high school graduate" market tending to diminish over time as education becomes a companion to working life rather than an alternative to it. Societies are then faced with the economic reality that supporting young people while they spend three to four years of their lives insulated on-campus may not be the best or the most efficient way to ensure that their workforce has the genuine skills needed for the future. Too often at present there is a gap between what academia regards as necessary and what the real world expects of graduates - and it is academia that reveals itself as out of touch.

A university for the Information Age does not need to surround itself with the impedimenta of yesteryear to create a meaningful education. Nor does it need to accept the rules of the existing higher education "club" where these are in active opposition to the needs of the market. Being institutionally authoritarian, academia in general regards the market with fear and skepticism, and as a manipulable tool to reinforce its monopoly through the use of state funds and state coercion. This is a position that will have to change as the market wins out against attempts to suppress it.

Those entrepreneurs who have entered the educational market in recent years have generally cared less about education than about making money. Their desire is to gain the approval of the establishment and consequent access to government student funding so as to maximise their profits. They have no interest in challenging what the state cartels believe or the foundations for those beliefs. As a result, their institutions too often resemble little more than cheaper versions of the old-established universities. We believe that education deserves a better vision, and that putting the student first in that vision is fundamental to success. As we continue our progress, we will hold true to this mission and seek to consolidate our niche within the diversity of the postsecondary education landscape.

John Kersey
President, European-American University

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External articles
Dennis W. Mills, Ph.D., writes on "Applying What We Know - Student Learning Styles".
Irving H. Buchen writes on "The Extended Enterprise LMS"
Frank Greenagel writes on "Lead Balloons, Stone Canoes and Learning Styles"