3. NYU Certificate Classes (definitely not free): The regular and online classes that I list above are free, but there are two catches. The first is that they come with no certification, since I have neither the inclination nor the resources to keep track of who is taking the class, how well they are doing and providing the certification. The second is that online classes require self-discipline, since there is no mechanism for me to prod or nag you to keep up with the class. For many of you, these are not deal breakers, and I know of many who have persevered to finish these classes. If you believe that you need both the structure of a real class (with deadlines and time schedules) and certification, there is a third option and that is to take these classes through New York University’s Executive Education program. The links to the certificate versions of the classes are below:
- Foundations of Finance Online (Included in Corporate Finance and Valuation certificate classes)
- NYU Certificate in Corporate Finance
- NYU Certificate in Advanced Valuation
- NYU Certificate in Investment Philosophies
These classes have more polished versions of the videos that I recorded for my online class, come with exams and projects, and I do live Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM)’s Zoom sessions every two weeks, with each class, for the clearing up of doubts and questions. They also include quizzes, an exam and a final project, the last of which I will grade and return to you with feedback. Since these are offered through NYU, they come with a price tag, that some of you may find too high. Since the content on these courses is identical to the free online versions (even though NYU has chosen to add advanced to the valuation class and applied to the corporate finance class names), you will have to decide whether these add ons are worth the price that NYU charges for them. And for those of you find that price to be too high, there is always the free version!
The University Model: Disruption Coming?
You can accuse me of biting the hand that feeds me, but I have always though that the university model of education, especially as practiced by research universities, is dysfunctional and ripe for disruption. If a university were treated as a business, and we were asked to objectively assess its performance, we would give it failing grades on multiple counts. The university governance system stinks, investments are driven by ego and me-tooism, the funding process is unsustainable, and universities seem to revel in mistreating their primary customers, the students, who deliver the tuition revenues that represent the bulk of their revenues. That said, this mistreatment is not a new phenomenon and the university model has endured for centuries, foiling and co-opting potential challengers over this period.
As recently as a decade ago, there were some who proclaimed that MOOCs (massive open online courses) would upend universities, but that assault, like others before, failed and EdX and Coursera now operate as extensions of universities, rather than competitors. I argued a few years ago that technology-driven disruptors of education were failing because of a fundamental misunderstanding of what a university degree package offers students, viewing a university education as a collection of courses. At the same time, I offered a cautionary note to my university colleagues that change was already here, undermining the moats that universities have erected against competitors. If you are interested in that presentation, you can click here.
In 2020, COVID may have accomplished what hundreds of years of competitors and critics have not, and exposed the underbelly of the university model.
– First, as classes moved online, there were many where students hardly noticed the difference, as classes taught without energy, enthusiasm and engagement in a physical classroom sound the same online, and are easier to mute.
– Second, of the many things that students misses after classes moved online, the classes themselves were low down the list, well below friends, college sports and parties.
– Third, the fact that most universities were unable or unwilling to cut tuition, even as classes move online, drew attention to the magnitude of the tuition and how little of it is directly connected to student education.
– Finally, it forced students and parents, who had been have been conditioned to believe that the only way to get an education is to spend four years at a university, out of their pre-conceptions and to experiment with alternative routes.
My good friend, Scott Galloway, has been vocal in arguing that COVID is the tipping point that is going to upend the university model. He sees a world, where the strongest and most prestigious schools will survive and perhaps even thrive, while many small colleges and tuition-dependent universities will be decimated. While Scott and I agree on the trends and many of the problems with the university model, I have more hope than Scott does for the model. I think that COVID provides an opportunity for universities to remake themselves into institutions where real learning is delivered in classrooms, good teaching is valued, and the focus returns to educating students.
