Ruben, Brent D. (2004). Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges. Reviewed by John E. Karayan, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Ruben, Brent D. (2004). Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 420 $34.00 (hardcover)   ISBN: 0-7879-6204-X Reviewed by John E. Karayan California State Polytechnic University, Pomona March 12, 2005 University faculty and administrators should read this book. This is our future. The Trouble with Excellence To many in higher education, excellence is a dirty word. It smacks of business mentality, not particularly popular among those who generally have self-selected to avoid it. In universities, when the term excellence is used, interference – or at least measurement – usually follows. And this means trouble, with a capital T. Excellence means having to explain, and explain things which one has never had to explain before. Excellence means having to measure, and measure things which one has never had to measure before. It means having to explain things which are not easy to explain, and measure things which are not easy to measure. Most importantly, when the word excellence is used, adults in Universities know that at the very least they are going to lose the only thing they can never get more of: their time. Thus a book with “Excellence” in its title is unlikely to be readily embraced by the university community. But this one should be the exception. What is cogently presented in Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education: Eight Fundamental Challenges, however, is knowledge essential for the key stakeholders in higher education today. This particularly is the case for university professors, university administrators, and others interested in higher education policy. Are Universities Educational Dinosaurs? Without explicitly posing it, the book focuses on the most important question for people working in higher education today: will universities, as teaching institutions, last? Or have they been rendered obsolete by the revolutionary advances in telecommunications, information processing, and job design which students now so cavalierly take for granted as they go about their daily lives? Will universities last much beyond their first millennium -- if one dates universities from the madrasa established in the 11th Century by Nizam al-Mulk, the vizier of the first Seljuk ruler of Baghdad -- or are they dinosaurs constitutionally unable to respond to the increasing need to unlearn as well as learn as the future becomes the present at an increasingly rapid pace? As Ruben cogently suggests, the answer to this fundamental question depends on “change, and responses to change[,] in higher education”. In Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education, the key issues in this area are categorized into eight “fundamental challenges”. These are phrased so that the categories also include the solutions. Take the first category: “broadening public appreciation for the work of the academy” (e.g., first and foremost, what Universities need do is communicate their value). The second category is ‘increasing our understanding of the needs of the workplace”. In other words, Universities need to figure out what skills and knowledge graduates needs. Third on the list is “becoming more effective learning organizations” (i.e., doing more of the right things). To one who has managed an organization – particularly a not-for-profit venture – these categories come as no surprise. What makes this book such a crucial read is that few in higher education – even administrators – have ever managed another organization. Furthermore, after deftly framing the situation in the book’s Preface, and then articulating the either themes in the first Chapter, the balance of the book consists of essays and articles (by an impressive array of talents in higher education) which happen to address these the eight “fundamental challenges”. Narratives by Doers in Higher Education These essays and articles are surprising in their breath, depth, and clarity. Some do apply organizational theory and management practice to institutions of higher education (e.g., “A Balanced Scorecard for…Administrative Services at [U.C.] Berkeley; “Leadership Development at Cornell University”). There is nothing wrong with this. To most people in academia, these essays describe successful innovations. Further, leading management scholars have pointed out repeatedly than management theory is just as important for non-profit organizations as it is for businesses. Indeed, Peter Drucker has long articulated than good management is far more important in the public sector than in the private, because there is no quick and easy measure – like profit -- of efficiency and effectiveness. The one common theme which emerges from these articles and essays is nowhere articulated in them. This theme is that it is the very survival of the teaching University as we know it is a question which needs to be addressed. But not because there is no need for higher education. Universities changed dramatically during the Cold War. They became institutions of mass learning; the once rare college degree became commonplace in advanced economies. This was just in time. There is a lot more to learn now, and it is much important to be able to learn. The Need for Teaching Universities; Challenges from Other Institutions Environments which have segued to the information age from the industrial thrive on people skilled at knowledge work. In order for citizens to make informed decisions, and for the work force to be effective and efficient, the modern world needs knowledge workers. First and foremost, knowledge workers need to be effective learners, critical thinkers, cogent communicators, and aware of history, culture, and interpersonal dynamics. In this way, the need for a university level education is much greater than in the past. The question is, rather, whether universities will remain the locus of higher education. This is a question not really being addressed by the higher education establishment. But it is being addressed by increasingly reduced enthusiasm for public Universities on the part of students, employers, and state legislators. A host of alternatives to traditional universities have arisen in the last quarter of the 20th Century. Most are far less expensive than the traditional university; none devote less than 50% of their operating funds to instruction (as do some public universities). Private research foundations increasing clamor for Federally funded research grants; their success means less funding for Universities. There are over 2,000 corporate universities, funded directly by employers to provide precisely the skills and knowledge which employers think their employees need. This is higher education which is not competing with K-12 schools for state funding. There are global institutions like Monash University; Touro University offers many degrees entirely on line. These far better match the schedules of the increasingly non-traditional students who have flocked to state universities over the past quarter century. Conclusions Pursuing Excellence in Higher Education shows how universities can maintain their position. First and foremost, this requires effective teaching. Effective teaching at the university level requires more than just being skilled at teaching: it requires extensive knowledge of the subject taught, and of the subjects being taught. Not only must we bring professional experiences and academic knowledge to the job when hired, but we must continually refresh, enhance, and advance our knowledge just as our students must do in order to function as effective citizens when they leave our hallowed halls. This goes beyond merely reading The Economist or watching "Washington Week in Review". Instead, it requires creating knowledge, being on the cutting edge, developing the ideas that will be in the text books five years from now, and being engaged in the community bringing our expertise to bear on the challenges faced by our stakeholders. Generating and disseminating just this kind of knowledge is something that traditional universities do. More importantly, the right things need to be taught. Problem solving rather than memorization, critical thinking rather than polemics, rhetoric and effective communication, quantitative analysis. Things that are best learned Socratically, interactively, and spontaneously. Things that are best learned through hard work, by students seeing professors’ insightful comments their papers. These are not things which are accomplished on the cheap, nor are they the skills and knowledge which corporate universities focus upon. This, indeed, is why communicating the value of a university education to our stakeholders – particularly taxpayers, employers, and legislators -- is the most important challenge faced by universities today, and also the most important action item to assure our survival. To make sure outsiders know that we engage in basic and applied research along with performing high level consulting engagements with the university's greater community. To make sure outsiders know that we continually developing ourselves, both as professionals and as scholars. This is why faculty development -- doing research, presenting and defending it at conferences, making speeches, writing articles, and consulting in the public and private sectors -- is so vital to our doing our duty. We can not afford to rest on our laurels in our ivory towers: the world will pass us by. But we can show that we create knowledge and spread it, help craft solutions to crucial social challenges, and add value in a way that only a teaching institution can. If we do so, we will last. About the Reviewer John E. Karayan, JD PhD is a Professor of Business at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His public service includes charities and governmental advisory boards; he keeps current in his field as an expert witness on accounting issues in complex business litigation.