At Tyler Cowen University, No One Would Have Tenure
If you could start an institution of higher learning from scratch, what would it look like?
Not every university needs to look like this.
Photographer: Andy Lyons/Getty Images North AmericaIf you were to design a university from scratch, what might it look like? The idea isn’t necessarily to have a model for other schools to follow, but rather an experiment. Assume that various legal, contractual and accreditation constraints do not stand in your way.
I would start with what I expect students to know. They should be able to write very well, have a basic understanding of economics and public policy, and a decent working knowledge of statistical reasoning. I would give a degree to students who demonstrated “B-grade” competence in all of these areas; what now goes for passing C-minus work wouldn’t cut it.