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I like the distinction between a university and an institution focusing on practical higher education (German “Fachhochschule” seems to convey the concept). Thi

I like the distinction between a university and an institution focusing on practical higher education (German “Fachhochschule” seems to convey the concept). This should not be about difficulty and prestige, but one’s mindset and what they want to do in life. Research-oriented higher education is not likely to become obsolete, and neither is applied practical education. What can (and, arguably, should) go away is expecting an institution originally intended for the former to provide the latter. Unfortunately, in many countries universities have grown to become the default option, any other path is considered inferior.

throwawaygh 6y ago
> I like the distinction between a university and an institution focusing on practical higher education The USA already has Fachhochschule. See: any non-phd-granting regional branch campus of the state's university system. Places like https://www.ucmo.edu/ https://www.ucmo.edu/. The problem is that we don't admit that our Fachhochschules are Fachhochschules, and students at our Fachhochschules therefore often don't understand that they are at a Fachhochschule. People in the US talk about university as if it's one monolith, when in fact we have at least three very different types of universities with very different purposes: elite finishing schools (top-tier LACs and the Ivy League), universities (state flagships and large R1 privates), and applied universities (low-tier LACs and state branch campuses). And then students make dumb choices because all of those universities offer the same educational programs.