How UT-Austin’s Bold Plan for Reinvention Went Belly Up
The rise and fall of one research university’s attempt to shake up undergraduate education
Project 2021
In 2016, the University of Texas at Austin launched Project 2021, hoping to revamp its undergraduate experience. Among its goals: redesign curricula , research teaching methods, and produce more live, online classes.
The university populated the project with employees from existing units, including a faculty innovation center, an extended campus, a research team, and a production studio.
Organizational confusion and budget restrictions left staff frustrated. “I look back at it now and laugh at how naïve I was,” the project’s director told us. The university shuttered the project last year.