Beyond the University: Shifting Demographics in Higher Education

In many countries, "traditional" students will soon be a numerical minority

on campus. The demands of the knowledge society as well as social and

demographic shifts continue to have far-reaching effects on the composition

of the student body with more and more entrants (or re-entrants) well past

the age of eighteen to twenty-four. In order to serve an increasingly broad

and diverse spectrum of the population, higher education institutions will

have to adjust their academic programs and organizational structures and

become more "permeable." This session will convene practitioners and

policy-makers from around the world to explore the trends in shifting

student populations, analyze policies and models to respond to these

trends, and evaluate the challenges and opportunities that higher education

faces in the light of this development.