EDTECH: What are some problems with the traditional higher ed model?
Lombardi: It’s very labor-intensive, first of all. Second, it’s a scarcity model. It’s based on the notion of restricting access and opportunity to people. The budgets in most universities don’t make any sense. People make a list of all the things that they want, and then they adjust tuition and fees to accommodate that. That’s why the cost of higher education has skyrocketed over the past several decades. It’s really unaffordable for many people.
It’s a business model that’s not predicated on sound principles of fiscal management. It’s not predicated on cost-effective work. It’s not predicated on automation and digitization that can lower costs. It’s a 20th-century business model in a 21st-century world and it doesn’t work anymore.
FIND OUT: How higher ed institutions manage long-term digital transformation projects.
EDTECH: What can be done to revolutionize the model?
Lombardi: Well, first and foremost, we’re in a digital age. COVID-19 has eliminated the debate about what age we’re in. You have to implement strategies that are fundamentally based on data and data analytics. It’s the absolute necessity of all things. You could argue it’s the absolute necessity of the entire economy, in every vertical in the economy.
One of the things we’re doing is employing sophisticated AI techniques to provide service and content to students so that they don’t have to look for it. They’re not hunting for it; it’s pushed out to them. That way, you can significantly reduce your dependency on traditional ways of delivering things and push information, content and services to students in a way that serves their interests most effectively. Like any other service industry, education has to pivot in that direction, and that’s what we’ve been doing very well for the past several years.
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