The author mentions September 11 to demonstrate

In this century, the wealth and success of nations will depend like never before on the ability to produce and use knowledge. Universities have long been instrumental in generating knowledge and ideas. But in an increasingly globalized world, and in the face of rapid scientific change, they will need to think about a set of new challenges and how to best prepare their students for the coming decades.
     It will be vital, as never before, for university graduates to have a grasp of foreign cultures and global issues. Before September 11,2001, if you had asked the average American to name a remote country that matters little to the United States, the response might well have been Afghanistan. Today, it is clear that no country is so remote that it cannot affect our way of life. Universities, especially in the United States, will need to evolve to reflect the reality of interdependence, to educate more foreign students, to send more of their students abroad and to incorporate international perspectives in every area of study.
    Universities will need to teach a new kind of literacy, defined not only by global awareness. They also need to grapple with the dilemmas posed by the accelerating pace of change brought on by scientific and technological advances. We are on the brink of once-in-human-history progress in combating disease through the application of modem science. Doctors will have at their disposal blood tests that will tell you with substantial predictive power how long you will live and from what diseases you are likely to suffer. The Internet and the application of information technology may well represent the most profound change in the way knowledge is disseminated since the printing press. We are close to understanding the first second of the history of the cosmos.
     Beyond their contribution to scientific progress, universities are uniquely suited to grapple with the important ethical questions raised by modem science. This means that those who wish to be educated members of our society will need to understand something of science and technology. It may once have been acutely embarrassing to not know the names of five plays by Shakespeare, but acceptable to not know the difference between a gene and a chromosome. This can no longer be the case. Institutions of higher learning have begun adapting to this reality, but they still have a long way to go.