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View from the Top: George Washington University
He’s been honoured with awards and academic prizes - he’s even had days named after him. This month, View from the Top speaks with one of the world’s great academic characters, Professor Stephen Joel Trachtenberg.
Professor Trachtenberg served as the 15th president of The George Washington University (GWU) for almost 20 years, having already completed 11 years as president of the University of Hartford, Connecticut. He is also one of very few former university presidents who have had days named after them – December 4, 2006, February 2, 1999 and January 22, 1998 were all named “Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Day” in Washington DC and San Francisco.
Known as an engaging teacher, active academic and prolific author, Professor Trachtenberg has enjoyed a distinguished academic career, winning prizes for his scholarship and recognition for his views from universities and other institutions in Israel, Morocco, South Korea, Ukraine, the UK and the USA. His opinions have been published widely, informing a range of debates around the current state of higher education in the USA and the internationalization of education. His most recent views have been captured in two books, both published in June 2008 - Big Man On Campus: A University President Speaks Out on Higher Education and A Letter to the President of the United States on Higher Education. Both, according to a number of observers, have been significant in placing the discussion of higher education at the heart of the Obama presidency.
"With competing demands, we need to be able to explain to a skeptical public why higher education deserves the resources it gets"
Reflecting on the current state of US university education, Professor Trachtenberg believes that the system as a whole is in good health but the road ahead may be very different from the one recently travelled. “I'm concerned that our agenda to keep universities in the USA as leading the world, and to make access available to people from all walks of life, is challenged by the fact that we live in the world of finite fellows and infinite demand. With competing demands, we need to be able to explain to a skeptical public why higher education deserves the resources it gets. And in order to do that it means not only deliver it, but to deliver it more efficiently.”
An element of what Professor Trachtenberg sees as the future of universities and grad schools in the USA is radical and unusual coming from a man that has run an institution as large and as prestigious at GWU. Recognizing that the future for universities is likely to mean more competition, it is clear that change in inevitable. “I think distance learning is going to play a very consequential role in the future, particularly in Masters degree education and a lot of professional education - higher education related to vocation will be provided in this manner more and more. Fact is, universities are not going to be the same in the decades ahead for all kinds of reasons — resource allocation being an important one. We need to be able to make the case for higher education. We need to be able to talk about it in an enthusiastic and informed way. We need to have America believe we are on their side, as we are. We need to regain total confidence and we need to know that they've got a lot of things they have to pay for, higher education being only one.”
When talking about why students choose to study at the graduate level - Masters degrees in particular - Professor Trachtenberg continues to see a range of motivations behind the decision to apply for grad school. “Earning a Masters degree can be fun; it can provide knowledge and can stretch the imagination. A cynic might conclude that the Masters degree is the stepchild of the university community, increasingly a commodity offered by universities in order to earn tuition dollars devoted to the PhD programs. But in the marketplace, it adds to one’s personal narrative. It makes one more interesting.” And at a time when more students are considering returning to university or grad school, Professor Trachtenberg also argues that now is perhaps the best time to take a Masters or any other graduate program. “In a bad job market does it make sense for students to seek a safe harbor and earn a Masters degree? Absolutely: if they can afford it; if the debt from their previous academic work is not too great; if someone else is paying; if they seek to reinvent themselves.”
