Building a Bridge Over Troubled Water

Today's education landscape is becoming hyper-competitive with formidable for-profit institutions with significant financial muscle. In addition, we have seen private and public institutions moving beyond their traditional geographic boundaries and embracing the opportunities in the adult education market. The higher education landscape, one in which Webster has owned and played a leading role for many years is shrinking. This begs the question:

1. How will Webster University remain relevant in the education landscape?

2. What can we do to enhance our competitive advantage?

3. How can we ensure that Webster remain relevant?

4. How can we reaffirm our purpose as a higher education institution?

5. How do we strengthen our commitment to transforming lives by providing access to a population of students who are aware of the many options available to them?

I believe that Webster must stay on the forefront of innovation by demonstrating the audacity and courage to see things differently. It will happen by offering creative programs that meet the ever-changing demand of the workplace. The recent introduction of such new programs in leadership and management, entrepreneurship, decision support, information technology management, non-profit management and web design is a validation of our seriousness of purpose. In addition, the new MBA Cohort of 50 allied health personnel at BJC Healthcare, one of the largest nonprofit health-care organizations in the United States, confirms our willingness to dare to be creative.

Whether or not we can retain our institutional relevance will depend in part on the commitment from all of us to lead from where we are. This will require the collective efforts of the permanent citizens of Webster—the faculty, staff and the administration. I believe that our institution's mission rests in our ability to define our purpose with clarity. The future must take on a commitment to serve the underserved working adults, minorities, women, people in mid-populated areas and emerging international markets. Webster University can become a bridge for people the world over.

Recently, we have seen an intensity of competitive pressure from new players in the higher education marketplace, driven by the explosive growth of distance learning technology, and by the dwindling population demographics of the 23-29 year olds in Europe and the growing number of online degrees delivered by brand name institutions.

Webster's future rests on our willingness to invest on our strengths:

- Adjunct faculty of professionals working in the field

- Convenience and flexibility

- Decades of experience with adult learners

- Real-world application-based curriculum

- Extended campus infrastructure

- A diverse student body

Webster must take advantage of the many opportunities that the present and future will bring our way. These include:

- Increasing interest in lifelong learning, training and education for individuals and corporations.

- Increased demand for graduate education

- Increased demand for niche programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Our response must be immediate and specific to:

- Target new programs geared toward the 'echo boomers,' (23-29 year olds).

- Adjust our curriculum development efforts at graduate programs that can attract students with pre-experiential skill sets.

- Develop a portfolio of "practitioner oriented" certificate/offerings to use in co-marketing our flagship degrees.

- Expand areas of specialization for students earning a degree at Webster.

- Give strong consideration to delivering a multiplicity of programs as stand-alone certificate programs.

We will offer our students the option to pursue dual degrees such as the MBA and the Masters in Health Administration (MHA) in a shortened, 54 credit-hour format. We must embrace innovation because our survival as an institution will depend on it.

When I think of institutional survival, I often times think of a classic song by Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water. The song tells a story of a drawbridge operator who lived near the bridge for which he was responsible. His responsibility was to enable boats to pass beneath by raising the bridge and to allow trains to pass on top by lowering the bridge. One day he received the signal that a train was approaching.   When he reached to pull the switch to lower the bridge he notices that his son, who had been playing under the bridge, was caught in the rigging. With no time to release his son and then get back to lower the bridge, he is trapped into making a choice that none of us would ever hope to make: either lower the bridge and save the lives of hundreds of people on the train and lose his only child, or save the life of his child and let the train and the hundred of passengers crash.

The song and the message behind it speak to the difficult decisions that Webster faces today and in the immediate future. It's about the choice of doing what is right and doing the right thing. The reality of making difficult choices speaks to saving Webster and to extending its life well into the future. The choices we face as an institution are limited yet clear. In the words of Aristotle, we must make reality our best friend, because this is where the opportunities lie. The reality calls for bold, sensible risks and visionary actions.

Webster University has the opportunity to represent a stabilizing force in business education in the 21st century—we can be the bridge for the vast underserved population worldwide, preparing students to successfully withstand the strong currents of the present and the future. Our bridge can be human bridge made up of the hard work of many, the permanent citizens of Webster. It's a bridge that is held up by history and tradition and sustained by the commitment of our faculty, a bridge held by the hopes and dreams of our students. It's a bridge that must be strong enough to withstand the test of time.

I believe that the future belongs to those that can see it and as such, it is our responsibility to focus our collective will to build a stronger Webster. In the words of Laurence Jorreman, Community Relations Coordinator at the Webster Denver campus, Webster must react now so that the "university is not soon ringing the sound of silence."

My hope is that we shall continue to live by the reality of the lyrics espoused in the song like a bridge over troubled water so, "Sail on silver girl, sail on. Your time has come to shine; all your dreams are on their way, see how they shine." We must work to keep the Webster bridge strong and steady, even as the powerful winds of competition and the unpredictability of the times we live may shake our will and test our resolve to sail on. May the winds of change bring favor to Webster. May our collective efforts keep this ship on course.

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