Recommendations for existing institutions of higher education also emerge from an understanding of disruptive innovation. These colleges and universities should:
Apply the correct business model for the task. These institutions have conflated value propositions and business models, which creates significant, unsustainable overhead costs.
Drive the disruptive innovation. Some institutions have this opportunity, but to do so, they need to set up an autonomous business model unencumbered by their existing processes and priorities. They can leverage their existing fixed resources in this autonomous model to give themselves a cost advantage over what to this point have been the low-cost disruptive innovators.
Develop a strategy of focus. The historical strategy of trying to be great at everything and mimic institutions such as Harvard is not a viable strategy going forward.
Frame online learning as a sustaining innovation. Institutions can use this new technology to disrupt the existing classroom model to extend convenience to many more students as well as provide a better learning experience.