Adult learners: One of the real growth areas for education in the future will be one that is relatively ignored by most of traditional higher education at present – adults returning for additional education. They generally will have a pretty clear view of what they need to get from this additional education, and will demand programs meeting these needs rather than reflecting traditional disciplinary agendas. Sometimes they will be looking for degrees, other times for certificates, that demonstrate that they have a new skill to bring to the table. These learners have little interest in the expensive infrastructure that universities and colleges have built for undergraduates – residence halls, student unions, student affairs, and athletics, and won’t expect to pay for them. They will demand institutional flexibility in course delivery, both in location and in time, in order to accommodate their packed schedules. Both distance learning and secondary campuses may be more appropriate to meeting these demands than the traditional campus, and provide an opportunity to segregate off the high infrastructure costs of the main campus. This is a group that has not been a part of the traditional core mission of most of higher education, but it may be time to break out from the narrow educational mission that focuses primarily on the 18-22 year old full time residential undergraduate student. In other words, to really embrace the idea of lifelong learning as part of our core mission.
