Disruptive Innovation, Christian Higher Education and The Poor

by Andrew Sears
June 1st, 2015
This study examines the prospect of disruptive innovation in higher education and its implications both for Christian higher education and the poor. Two major trends are likely to shape whether Christian higher education will play a larger or smaller role in the global higher education system. One will be the trend toward consolidation as global technology courseware platforms begin to dominate higher education. This courseware trend could result in an increasing role for Christian higher education as a larger portion of global higher education becomes private, but it could also increase secularization if Christians do not effectively use these platforms. The other trend is the growth of higher education outside the Western world, which could increase or decrease the role of Christian higher education depending on how Christians respond.


There are also two major forces affecting whether the poor will be helped or hurt by the coming changes. The trend toward automation could create significant long-term technological unemployment among the poor who lack access to higher education. The trend toward massification of higher education accelerated by disruptive innovation could potentially help the poor by providing accessible, less expensive access to education. Whether the net effect of these two trends is to help or hurt the poor will ultimately depend on whether society is are able to more quickly educate the poor for new jobs than we eliminate jobs through automation.


One key conclusion to this project is that technology leadership will be critical to increasing the future influence of Christian higher education and benefitting the poor in the midst of these changes. Because of the importance of technology leadership, the
second part of the project presents research toward a Master’s program in Technology and Ministry to train practitioners in these leadership principles.