The generative intellectual environments that academic institutions house and foster are being recreated or entirely rethought online, outside of the brick walls of a university. Internet salons, writer collectives, open-source software, fellowships, and cohort-based courses are providing modern alternatives to those institutions. You don’t need an... See more

The challenges facing University Inc may ultimately usher in a new era of education. One where the role that elite universities have historically played as gatekeepers on knowledge, prestige and access begins to fall away and the very best education becomes available to any-and-all (with or without a fee). The world may ultimately end up having few... See more

Step Two: Unbundle Students from Universities Universities could continue to exist as a combination of a local community and a filtering mechanism. A university is still a great way to find friends or a partner, assuming it continues to filter out people you're unlikely to have as close of a relationship with.

Even as the cost of tuition increased, the value of university went unquestioned. Colleges bundled education and signaling. Students who thrived in boring classes signaled traits to employers, like conscientiousness, intelligence and conformity. Now, due to the proliferation of information on the internet and the rise of affordable and effective al... See more