IMS Global: Founded 60 years ago, people may not realize that the University of Maryland University College is the 12th largest degree-granting university in the United States and one of the largest providers of online education in the nation. What else should they know that differentiates your institution?

NA: Two things come to mind. One is that we are a complete university devoted to serving the non-traditional student, from eighteen to eighty plus. If you look around the nation, there are few complete universities devoted to this student. Most deliver continuing education as an adjunct or collateral service appended somewhere to the traditional organization. We're probably one of the few truly open access institutions in the United States as opposed to some of the great open universities in other parts of the world. We will not turn away a single qualified student who wants to come to us to achieve their education. Our entrance requirements are minimal, but that brings certain obligations as well. If prospective students show up at our door with the minimum qualifications, but they have not been adequately prepared elsewhere, we see an obligation to provide systems and resources that will help these students acquire the skills they need to succeed. That's a big obligation.

Another unique feature about UMUC is that as a public university, we receive little public funding. To give you an idea, currently we receive more funding from the State of Maryland than ever before, but still only 6.5 percent of our annual $265 million budget comes from the taxpayers. The rest comes mainly from tuition and fees. That feature has required us to develop a culture where we're much attuned to business and administrative systems as well as the academic systems. We've had to be entrepreneurial to survive and flourish.

In the University System of Maryland, there are 13 public higher education institutions. Eleven of them, including UMUC, are degree-granting institutions. We are a completely separate university with our own president, our own leadership, and our own operational and academic units.

IMS Global: You've been the provost of UMUC for almost a decade. What have been some of the major changes that have occurred in higher education during your tenure?

NA: On a broad level, it has been the rising tide of expectations, not only in our society, but around the world: the expectation that education is a right; it is the hope for a better future. If you look across most societies, one of the common values people have for their children if not themselves is to go to school and learn new things and have a better opportunity for employment, a more fulfilling life, and more active citizenship in society. Education is increasingly seen as a human right. It is interesting that the recent Spellings Commission report has a statement that says that every citizen who desires to achieve a degree should have the opportunity to get one. That's a very progressive statement and it was published under an administration known for more conservative views.

Of course the seismic change that has happened in the past decade is the Internet revolution that has started to impact education at many levels. It has already transformed other industries as mass communications, financial and banking for example. It's starting to happen in higher education. I say "starting" to happen because while some institutions as UMUC embraced this change quickly in the mid-90s, others are just now getting it. It's happening and it is also happening outside the United States. That worries me a lot because I tend to think our higher education institutions may not be moving fast enough here.

For the teaching profession, the Internet revolution and its potential for supporting faculty and students also has to be at the top of the list....helping teachers teach better and students learn better. And not just as a delivery channel. The Web provides a rich treasure of resources and research tools if one can cut through all the junk. Think about what technology has done for the emergence of great virtual libraries, as we have at UMUC, for example. The access the Web provides both students and teachers to learning resources is revolutionary. We're also on the verge of something else that is emerging under the title of Web 2.0. I don't know that any of us really knows where this will lead yet. But something is taking place that will be of great value to higher education once it settles out. We need to pay attention because it is going to provide greater leverage to faculty and students in achieving learning.

Two other challenges that have occurred during the past decade are the accelerating needs of our students and the accelerating cost of education. For educational institutions, it means keeping up with the growth in knowledge, skills, and abilities our students need to learn in today's rapidly changing world. It's probably always been a worry, but I think more intense today than it was 25 or 50 years ago. For educational institutions that are more open, it means having to deal with a highly diverse level of preparation of the learners that appear at your door.

Meanwhile, the cost problem is the sleeper. Costs keep going up and up as do tuition and fees. For public institutions it means that we have an undebated policy of exclusion taking place. People are waking up to it only now. It's serious.