Future Trends in Academic Professional Development

Universities have changed over the past two decades in response to more dynamic employment environments (Hager, Holland, & Beckett, 2003). Government and employers around the world expect university graduates to have more relevant knowledge and, perhaps more importantly, a range of professional skills developed as a result of their university education (Business Higher Education Round Table, 1999, 2001, 2003). Today’s students are also different. Greenburg (2004) identifies students’ perceptions of their university as “a means to an end ... less apt to buy into academic beliefs regarding knowledge for its own sake and other romantic educational traditions” (p. 13). Levine and Sun (2002) indicate that only 20% of the current university demographic include “traditional college student” who live on campus and study full time (p. 4). Increasingly, “The majority of college students are ... older, attend classes part time, hold jobs, have families, and live off campus” (p. 4). They want a different relationship with their college to that of traditional students, “they are bringing with them consumer attitudes to higher education ... [and are seeking] ... convenience, service, high quality, and low cost” (Lao & Gonzales, 2005; Levine & Sun, 2002, p. 4). Hence, the quality of students’ learning experiences comes into sharp focus with these discerning consumers of the higher education product.