A Qualitative Enquiry Into Educational Administrator’s Perspectives on Life Long Enrollment Through Open Loop University: Prospects, Challenges and Policy Implications

Abstract

The concept of Open Loop University can be best understood by Jeffrey J. Selingo‟s description of the concept in his book, “There is life after college: what parents and students should know about navigating school to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow” wherein he claims that colleges would be compelled to move from being „just one time‟ in an individual‟s life to being „just in time‟ in the future. This study attempts to incorporate the Open Loop University concept for Professional Courses which essentially means student can go back to his/her institution at any point of time and opt for any course or program across disciplines. Many foreign universities of repute have adopted this practice - allowing their students go for Life Long Enrolment. For every new course/program enrolled, the student gets incentivised in the form of fee waiver for few/all courses depending on the discretion of the University. Hence the study intends to capture the perspectives of the most critical stakeholder and informant in the Professional Education Ecosystem namely, Educational Administrators on the relevance, applicability and viability of the concept in the Indian context. The data gathering tool used is In-depth Interview. Qualitative analysis of the data collected is carried out to derive insights to enhance our understanding as well as enable implementation of this project.

Keywords: Life Long Learning, Life Long Enrolment, Open Loop University, Learning, Future of Work, Future of Education