American higher education looks nothing like it did a century ago. Two long-running stories explain much of the change: the rise of environmental education and the fight over who gets admitted.
Environmental education grew out of the nature study movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s, when educators took students outdoors to learn by observation. It became a distinct field in the 1960s and 1970s. A landmark moment came in 1977, when the first intergovernmental conference on environmental education met in Tbilisi and produced a declaration that shaped the field worldwide. UNESCO later built on this work through its Education for Sustainable Development program.
The second story is about access. In 1961, President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925, which required federal contractors to take affirmative action against employment discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Higher Education Act of 1965 followed, opening college doors wider than ever before.
Admissions policy then moved through the courts. In 1978, the Supreme Court decided Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. The Court struck down the use of strict racial quotas in admissions but allowed race to be considered as one factor among many. That framework guided universities for decades. In 2023, the Court ended race-conscious admissions in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, forcing schools to find new ways to build diverse classes.
Through all of this, the basic shape of college kept changing. Community colleges grew, online programs appeared, and the student body became far more varied than the one of 1920.
The century’s lesson is that higher education keeps being remade by forces outside the campus. Policy, courts, and social movements set the terms, and institutions adapt or decline.
To see how learning itself is changing, read about leading e-learning platforms for higher education and key online learning trends. For the policy side, see our article on how policy changes affect higher education and our campus diversity and inclusion initiatives.
