title: A changing higher education environment.
abstract: Radical changes in contemporary society are forcing colleges and universities to alter their time-honored traditions. Economics, demographics, and technology have forever changed the university of the past. The public's demand for accountability is challenging the relevancy of programs, the value of tenure, and the utility of research endeavors. Higher education must focus on serving society's needs to survive in the future. New structures, learning environments, and technologies must be used. To be successful, colleges and universities must be able to respond to opportunities as well as serve as catalysts to create a new vision, have a clear sense of the future, and be organized to energize and support the efforts to carry out the vision. University faculty and administrators must carefully deliberate about higher education--its purpose and its methods--and turn those ideas into action to meet society's needs now and into the next century.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Kansas, Kansas City, USA.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003363:Cost Control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D012579:Schools, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D012922:Social Change; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods