Stephen Downes

The number refers to colleges in the United States, which has a different system than most of the rest of the world. "They're going to close, they're going to merge, some will declare some form of bankruptcy to reinvent themselves. It's going to be brutal across American higher education." The article tells us only that the expert, Michael Horn, "studies education at Harvard University", but I would imagine it's this Michael Horn from the Christensen Institute, which may lead you to take the prediction with a grain of salt.