The Future of Education

It is probably safe to say that higher education has seen very little disruption for the past 50 years. However, there is little doubt that Covid-19 has impacted education worldwide but probably more so in the United States than other nations due to how the system of education in the United States is set up. Universities/college campuses are places where students live and study in close proximity to each other. They are also buzzing cultural hubs where students are brought together from nations around the world. For example, the system of higher education in the United States is set up to provide a comprehensive experience for students including taking classes, living on campus, engaged in extracurricular activities, holding a job at the university and learning to lead.  Higher education in the U.S. was taking a hit in terms of student enrollment before the pandemic. For example, the total number of college students dropped from 19.8 million to 19.6 million just between 2017 and 2018. This drop is likely to continue due to low birth rate of 2008-2009 when the U.S. economy was in recession; thus there is a population cliff that is expected.  The pandemic had not only changed how online education is viewed in the United States but also how shifting investment in infrastructure might be needed. As online education become more common and accepted, does universities need to shift some of their investment from buildings to online infrastructure?  This paper looks at the various impact of the pandemic including political, financial, domestic and international student enrollment challenges, online education and faculty impact.    

Key words: Covid-19, enrollment, online education and political 

References
Hanson, Melanie (2021), College Enrollment & Student Demographic Statistics: Available at: https://educationdata.org/college-enrollment-statistics, [accessed February 20, 2021]. 
Israel, Emma and Jeanne Batalova (2021), International Students in the United States: Available at https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/international-students-united-states-2020 [accessed March 25, 2021].
Friga, Paul (2021), How Much Has Covid Cost Colleges? Available at: https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-fight-covids-financial-crush?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in [accessed March 10, 2021].