ASU President Says UW System Needs To Innovate, Expand Access To Education

The president of Arizona State University said the University of Wisconsin System needs to expand its access to higher education to adapt to a changing economy.

Michael Crow, ASU president and a nationally recognized innovator in higher education, gave a presentation to the Board of Regents during a meeting Thursday in Madison about ways public research institutions can address the future of educational attainment.

“The scale of educational access is nowhere near where it’s going to have to be, the scale of engagement is nowhere near where it’s going to have to be,” Crow said.

Crow said public research institutions will have to quickly expand educational opportunities for people being forced into new technological industries.

Crow used truck drivers losing their jobs to autonomous vehicles as an example. He said some of those truck drivers will go back to school, get a degree and become part of the new economy. They’ll have jobs advancing or supporting the software for the autonomous cars, Crow said.

The problem right now is that the truck drivers who advance their education won’t be able to get a degree fast enough, he said.

“What’s needed is the ability to enhance the speed with which an institution like the University of Wisconsin System can advance into an economy which is changing faster than the institutions can advance,” Crow said. “So (a broader scale of access to education), speed and innovation are really going to be critically important in the future.”

Crow said public universities should also offer more online education and strive for a student body with a diverse socioeconomic background.