We are living in a time of high change. What are some of the biggest challenges colleges and universities are facing today?
We are experiencing headwinds in U.S.-based higher education unlike anything else I’ve seen in my 35-year career in the industry. Here’s a quick summary:
Globalization – Countries outside the U.S. have been investing heavily in their own colleges and universities, so students don’t necessarily have to come to the U.S. for college However, international students are still having visa difficulties/delays getting into U.S. institutions…
Automation – Massive technological disruption for at least two decades has driven us toward online learning and mixed modalities…which makes people crave convenience and flexibility even more…
Demographics – The “demographic cliff” from the national birthrate decline is here and we’ve fallen over the cliff…fewer 18 year olds available for higher ed…growth in population in India presents an opportunity, but again those students have good institutions at home and in other countries…we’re not the only game in town for them…
Value – Not only fewer 18 year olds to chose from, but many are questioning the value of a college degree…these young adults also see other viable options for their career launch, including online certificates from outside higher ed or jumping into the social media influence or start-up world directly…we are being forced to “unbundle” our offerings to make them more palatable and digestible to this audience…
Price – The cost to obtain a college degree continues to rise, and is exorbitant on some campuses…intense pressure to cut spending on nearly all campuses, and downward price pressure on most campuses, causing some schools/programs to become much more price sensitive…
Adjunctification – Institutions hiring fewer Ph.D. qualified faculty into tenure track positions and, instead, leaning more heavily on adjuncts, clinical, part time, and other forms of non-tenured faculty to cover courses, while also increasing class sizes…
Privatization – All of these pressures are causing all universities, whether private or public, to think and act more like a business and to question their business model…e.g., a) some state universities who admit nearly all out-of-state and international students at higher price points…b) NCAA Division 1 college athletics putting together massive NIL packages for athletes…c) many universities pushing hard on their auxiliary revenues (e.g., apartments) and tech transfer and commercialization opportunities…
Politics – Political forces are at work on campuses perhaps now more than ever…
All of this was perfectly captured and predicted by the work of the late, profound, Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen, in his writings about disruption in higher education… Essentially, all of these forces are shifting higher education from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, shifting the power from the universities to our consumers (the students).
How “durable” are these forces of change? Are some likely to go away and which are here to stay for the foreseeable future?
Run back through that list of headwinds and ask yourself, is any of that lessening or going away? …globalization, automation, demographic shifts, changing value proposition, price and cost sensitivity, adjunctification, privatization, intensifying political landscape…nope, it ain’t going away…in fact, this disruption is likely to continue. Even further, ratings agencies have argued that with nearly 6,000 various colleges and universities of all types in the federal database, there are too many institutions in a declining market…and so consolidation is likely to continue in the industry.
How should “success” for students post-college be defined?
That’s an interesting question. I was a long time business school professor and two-time business school dean, and we defined success as getting students in at least one good business internship, at least one good study abroad experience, lots of applied learning, and then through our career center getting them placed into a good corporate job…pretty much a cookie cutter approach for all students. When I got into the presidency, especially my second presidency at a small private focused on graduate education (Claremont Graduate University), I realized that this cookie cutter approach wasn’t right. In fact it missed the boat for most of our students.
We realized that with nearly a 100 different areas of study for students ranging from business to public health, information systems, education, the arts, music, the humanities, and so on, our students each had very unique career aspirations and they were widely varying. Some wanted that tried and true track into the corporate world, but so many had other aspirations. Some planned on returning to and running family businesses, while others aspired to perform in an orchestra, open a gallery, run a museum, run a non-profit, work in the U.S. State Department, launch a business, building a consulting practice, become a counselor, and dozens if not hundreds of other exciting career and life choices. We had to change our model…and widen our aperture.
Before I wrapped up my presidency in Claremont, we created what we called the “time capsule” initiative. We began surveying students on the way in the door during their onboarding and capturing for each of them what they aspired to do after graduation. We would then work on that with them while they are students…and then “reopen” that time capsule upon graduation and see if, a) they had hit the mark with their plans after graduation, or, more interestingly, b) the learned through a transformation graduate experience that their aperture had widened and they now had a very different sense of what they wanted and were about to achieve. This is a costly, complicated approach to career counseling, but it’s the right thing to do. Let the students tell us what their goals are, and help them achieve that, and give them space to learn, grow, and change their mind about their aspirations as they continue to widen their aperture on life.
What advice would you give higher education administrators looking to sustain enrollment growth and positive outcomes for their schools?
The easiest thing to do is look at what the schools are doing that are declaring bankruptcy, and avoid what they are doing! The schools that are going out of business tend to be in a challenging location, without money in the bank (I.e., endowment), with a weak brand, with little competitive differentiation in their offerings, with offerings that have little demand, with little effort to reign in costs…and, the kiss of death, they are insular. Rather than thinking about markets and demand, and rather than being an “open” system, they are closed off to the outside world, with few external partnerships or even external conversations, and faculty and administrators are talking only with each other and making (poor) decisions as a result.
So higher ed administrators need to do the opposite. You might not be able to change your location, but you can use it to your advantage, play to your strengths, or move…or go online. You might not have a large endowment, but you can invest in your fundraising operation. You can pay attention to your brand, competitive differentiation, and only pursue programs with demand and clear outcomes for students (and phase out or pivot old programs that don’t). You can keep an eye on costs, try to keep tuition and fees within reason. You can continue to build out strengths in student engagement, retention, and student outcome success. You can shift your teaching and learning modalities to allow for more flexibility and convenience for students. You can experiment with new auxiliary sources of revenue like non-credit, customized executive programs, apartments, online master classes, renting out facilities on weekends and during summer, etc.
Good schools are already doing these things, and some are thriving…and it’s not just the flagships who are doing this. In fact, some small, private schools are leading the way. They are small, nimble, and entrepreneurial, and in Clayton Christiansen’s terms they are the “upstarts” who are taking market share away from the larger, older “incumbents” in the industry who, for a variety of reasons, just can’t seem to get out of their own way. Right now, higher education institutions need to become learning organizations in the purest sense a la Peter Senge…open, absorbtive, able to change and transform easily…and we need them to do it fast, now more than ever.
Len Jessup is a Higher Education and Technology Advisor, Board Member and Author formerly the President of Claremont Graduate University and The University of Nevada Las Vegas. He has also served as Dean of the Carson College of Business at Washington State University and The Eller College of Management at University of Arizona.
A Higher Level Of Leadership – Len Jessup
As a multi-time University President and Dean, Author/Speaker/Coach Len Jessup has had a front line view into current higher education challenges of effectively recruiting and engaging both students and staff. Successfully shaping the skillset and motivation of the next generation of workforce sometimes requires leaders to “go glow to go fast,” along with a servant leader mindset that empowers others to contribute in new ways they might never have thought possible.
