The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out by Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring (review)

In The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out, Clayton Christensen (Harvard Business School) and Henry Eyring (Brigham Young University—Idaho) introduce Christensen's theoretical construct of "disruptive innovation" (Christensen, Horn, & Johnson, 2011) by applying it to current higher education systems. The authors contend that universities are at a critical juncture. They are either at risk of "competitive disruption" or strategically positioned for an "innovation-fueled renaissance" (p. xxii).

The authors reinforce their assertions by presenting their ideas in a historical context, detailing what has emerged in higher education systems over time and using two distinctly different organizational models as case studies: Harvard University and Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-Idaho). They use innovation as a lens to expose the critical challenges and to explore the grand possibilities for the traditional higher education system of today. The authors contend that this system is in a real crisis, and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the higher educational communities themselves. In so doing, they challenge the paradoxical underpinnings that exist in the university system and step beyond the crisis points in order to create "practical strategies for success" (p. xxvi). They conclude that traditional higher education systems have "in the spirit of honoring tradition," hung on to their "past practices to the point of imperiling their futures" (p. xxii).

Christensen and Eyring break their ideas into five separate themes. In Part 1, "Reframing the Higher Education Crisis," they examine internal and external "threats" and a rationale for "hope" as the university communities look to the future (p. 3). Then they introduce two university case studies, one that reflects a belief in a traditional "bigger is better" model and the second that emphasizes the importance of an on-going innovation and change model, based on an understanding of the needs of their particular educational communities (p. 24).

A historical perspective in Part 2, "The Great American University," provides a general overview of the origins and the evolution of American systems of higher learning, beginning with the establishment of the Massachusetts 1636 act that provided for a "schoale or colledge." The founders of Newtowne, which would evidently become Harvard University, looked to England's University of Cambridge as a model for its foundational constructs, or, as the authors term it, its DNA (p. 33). Christensen and Eyring used the significant milestones in the emergence of Harvard University's system as a traditional model for developing a context for understanding the greatness of the American higher education system.

A detailed historical discussion early in the text begins with an explanation of the original Puritan College, continuing with Charles Eliot's contributions to the higher education system at large, to the pursuit of "excellence" and Harvard's "growing power," and conclude by extrapolating important elements related to topics specific to "staying close to its roots" (p. 157). Using Harvard and BYU-Idaho as current models, the authors discuss how a contextual framework impacts innovation in today's educational community.

In Part 3, "Ripe for Disruption," Christensen and Eyring examine internal and external factors that have played an integral role in impacting systems of higher learning since the 1960s, reviewing vulnerabilities within the competitive marketplace at all levels, including "funding challenges," "lower-cost providers of higher education," "2008 financial downturn," and "powerful new competitors to traditional universities [who] turn their attention to these dissatisfied and left-behind college students" (p. 205). The authors include several more recent challenges to higher educational systems such as the 2006 Spellings Commission call for greater accountability, along with the long-delayed debate associated with the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (p. 206). Christensen and Eyring further explore the issues unique to the creation of on-line for-profit universities, individual on-line programs, the emergence of new technologies for teaching and...