“Alma Mater” Is Being Replaced With “I Am Mobile”

Today, a majority of college students transfer at least once before earning their academic credential[1]. This is a phenomenon driven by fundamental changes in higher education. The high and ever-increasing cost of earning a degree is a factor; student preparation prior to enrollment is another. The unfulfilled expectations of students is yet another. We could develop a list of additional factors, but that is not the point of this paper. The student who graduates from high school and progresses through the first college they attend in four years—the “traditional college student”—is now the exception, not the rule. “Alma mater” is being replaced with “I am mobile.”

A large and growing number of students today typically compile academic credits from affordable junior colleges or community colleges (which may or may not result in a certificate or degree) or a growing array of online providers before attempting to transfer to, and graduate from, universities with a well-known brand. And, with the continued improvement in innovative, Web- accessible learning technologies -- from interactive gaming and simulation programs to automated guides -- geographic distances and institutional or international borders won’t matter anymore. Education is not, and has never really been, simply the result of going to classes and passing tests.

Courses that can satisfy graduation requirements can be offered by hundreds of institution “providers.” The growing number of course offerings and program opportunities delivered online will continue to shape how tech-savvy students use Internet resources to grasp and complete the requirements for the academic credentials they need, when they need them.

Today, however, there are significant obstacles limiting academic credit mobility. Twenty years ago, the banking system would only provide me with access to my account from their bank branches and tellers. Not until the advent of ATM’s and broad acceptance of my bank’s ‘debit’ card was I able to access my funds from any bank or financial institution. The ATM innovation has supported consumer mobility.

For today’s postsecondary students, the implication and implied warranty I call Academic Credit Mobility from the institutions they attend is as important as access to the checking and savings accounts managed by banks. Students represent tomorrow’s human capital and their academic credits are assets that help society monetize and leverage our past investment in learning. Let’s not inhibit Academic Credit Mobility. Let’s embrace it. Let’s recognize the need for this innovation, and utilize the best practices of business process improvement to overcome the obstacles; to support mobility from institution to institution and, eventually, from across the global postsecondary education enterprise.

[1] “The Road Less Traveled? Students Who Enroll in Multiple Institutions.” NCES Report 2005-157.