A syllabus for resilience in higher education

Abstract

Much anxiety surrounds the future of higher education. With escalating costs, tuition, and class sizes, and the increasing exclusion of many poor and minority students, higher education needs to become more accessible and sustainable. This paper defines five “abilities” for the resilience of higher education: availability, dependability, capability, affordability, and marketability. The literature indicates that components of each of these abilities are lacking at many institutions. To remedy this problem, the authors developed a syllabus for resilience based on these five “lessons.” The authors also use several case studies to validate the framework’s applicability to higher education.