In the face of rising costs of attendance and an escalating burden of student debt, universities are under pressure to increase productivity and control costs. This lecture offers three suggestions: (1) a novel framing of the argument for public support of universities, (2) conserving capital expenditures by proper accounting for the cost of facilities, and (3) scaling faculty productivity through online education.
Biography:
Rick Levin is the Chief Executive Officer of Coursera. Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online. In 2013, Rick completed a twenty-year term as President of Yale University, during which time he played an integral role in growing the University’s programs, resources and reputation internationally. He was named to the Yale faculty in 1974 and spent the next two decades teaching, conducting research, serving on committees and working in administration at the university. Mr. Levin served on President Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. He is a director of American Express and C3 Energy. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Rick received his Bachelor's degree in History from Stanford University and studied Politics and Philosophy at Oxford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Letters degree. In 1974, Dr. Levin received his Ph.D. from Yale University and holds Honorary Degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, and Peking Universities.