Based in part on the special capabilities of information technology, the primary force that will drive change in higher education is the fact that traditional institutions are about to lose their “exclusive franchise,” that is, their monopoly on providing postsecondary learning. New providers have already appeared and are competing effectively for students: corporate universities, the University of Phoenix (offering a combination of classes at distributed sites and online courses; see http://www.uophx.edu) and Virtual University (a completely online university; see http://vu.org). Universities that stick to the Industrial Age or factory model will probably continue to exist but will increasingly be at a competitive disadvantage. Traditional universities are insufficiently fiexible, they focus on processes and outputs (graduates) rather than on outcomes (significant learning), and they