‘Be an independent thinker and entrepreneur’
Northwestern Univ. president stresses broader education
EVANSTON, IL — Higher education institutions should focus on broader education to train students into becoming independent thinkers and innovative entrepreneurs, said Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University.
“A broader education is more important now than ever. Being trained to be an independent thinker and to be an entrepreneur and to be nimble and to have the skills to educate yourself for a lifetime is more important now than ever before,” Schapiro said in a recent interview with The Korea Times at his office on the Evanston campus. “A narrow technical education is less valuable, given changes in the world, revolutions in tech and communications.”
Northwestern’s educational offerings reflect the changes that will shape the role of higher education in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Schapiro said he takes pride in exposing Northwestern students to courses that help them become better human beings and more productive members of the workforce.
“We do design thinking, we do creativity along with technical skills. One thing that I really like about the undergraduate program at Northwestern is, with a quarter system, you have great flexibility to do a lot,” he said.
He said Northwestern provides students with opportunities to study diverse subjects.
“Most of our students have three things they study, either two majors and a minor or a major and two minors, and that’s because, with a quarter system, you can take up to 48 classes a year, not 32,” he said. “Sometimes, I have to tell you, I wish students loved economics and math as much as they love journalism or philosophy or literature.”
Accordingly, Schapiro says benefits from obtaining higher education are now greater than they have ever been.
“There is this myth out there that says don’t go to college, drop out of college, be an entrepreneur, create an app, and for everyone who does that and succeeds, there are many more who drop out and will forever regret it,” he said.
So higher education is more important than ever, and there is much data showing those returns, he added.
“Once there were a lot of so-called blue-collar jobs that were highly paid. A lot of those jobs have been automated away or they’ve been outsourced to lower-cost providers,” he said. “So, good luck if you don’t have higher education. The evidence is very clear. There has never been a more important time to get a college degree than there is now.”
Private but not-for-profit
The major difference between public universities and private colleges lies in how they are funded. Although, such differentiation as funding may impact students in the price of tuition, Northwestern does not categorize itself as a for-profit, private university.
Its “private but not-for-profit” principle has lots of benefits in terms of its continued contribution to local communities and causes, research and services, not for shareholders.
“We have a private for-profit sector here, but that’s not what gives the great luster to American higher education. It’s private, not-for-profit. What’s unusual in this country is to have private not-for-profits. And that’s Stanford, and that’s Northwestern, and that’s Emory and Washington University and the eight Ivies and Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon,” said the president.
“These are all privates, but they are private not-for-profit, so their mandate is to serve the public good even though they aren’t owned by the states. Now, the state of Michigan has jurisdiction over the University of Michigan or Wisconsin over the University of Wisconsin or Pennsylvania over Penn State or Ohio over Ohio State. Those are publics, but we have the sector of the private not-for-profits, which makes us pretty unusual throughout the world.”
Large endowments, which are helping U.S. schools feel less financial pressure, could be regarded as one of the major selling points to future students and their parents. Under this principle, Northwestern is receiving more endowments and spending more on student aid to help them cover other expenses. Its endowment now is approximately $10 billion.
Schapiro said the impact of the executive order on immigration by U.S. President Donald Trump would be limited, given the checks and balances that the U.S. system has.
“It’s more short term than long term. There are certain things that Trump wanted to do that the courts haven’t allowed him to do or that Congress hasn’t allowed him to do,” he said. “The U.S. has some students going abroad; we have many more coming here. It’s one of the reasons why our universities are as good as they are. And I really don’t see that changing in the long run. There might be some bumps, but I’m really optimistic about the future.”