Dive Brief:
- British entrepreneur James Dyson has created a new university he says will disrupt higher education by teaching engineering students the principles of applied technology in real-world settings, and not just theories of engineering.
- The Telegraph reports on the soon-to-be opened Dyson Institute of Technology, which will enroll about 25 students in its first cohort, and will pay students to take courses taught at the Dyson headquarters in partnership with the University of Warwick. Graduates will be guaranteed work upon completion of the program.
- Dyson says skepticism of the program, which he hopes will be supported by parliament in current legislation to support for-profit institutions, will be undone by the outcomes. “We have such a broad range subjects here — batteries, motors, micro electronics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, fluid dynamics, filtration. Graduates will be highly employable," Dyson told the Telegraph.
Dive Insight:
This is the future of for-profit education around the world, but particularly in the U.S. It is the same model endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education in its programs to grant financial aid to students seeking degrees offered by corporate-academic partnerships, with the ultimate goal of guaranteed job placement and industrial skill in mind.
Can college leaders recognize that around the world, this is the kind of enterprise entrepreneurs are looking to as the new money making, industry supporting business of the future? Traditional universities may want to consider forging and leading these partnerships, instead of being relegated to supporting institution status when more begin to appear in major cities.