Key points:
- Higher ed must find solutions for challenges impacting its future
- 5 of the biggest trends in higher education
- 8 top trends in higher education to watch in 2024
- For more news on higher-ed policy, visit eCN’s Campus Leadership hub
Higher ed is facing an uncertain future: Current and prospective students are grappling with increasing financial burdens, AI has thrown institutions for a loop as faculty race to equip students with the AI skills they’ll need for success, and many students are questioning the overall value of a 4-year degree.
These issues and others “will compound the challenges leaders face in creating a sustainable path forward, consuming the attention of college presidents, their senior leadership teams, and governing bodies in 2024 and beyond,” according to Deloitte’s 2024 Higher Education Trends.
The report’s authors have meticulously outlined some of the biggest higher-ed trends, challenges, and issues leaders must navigate in their pursuit of institutional excellence and student success.
Those higher-ed trends include:
The outcomes era: Articulating a compelling value proposition: Where institutions were once viewed as a method of social mobility, they are “increasingly viewed as maintainers of inequality, reflecting declining public trust and posing a potential challenge for university leaders to amplify the value of higher education and better meet the needs and expectations of students, families, employers, and public officials.”
Who will be president? Higher education’s accelerating leadership crisis: Higher-ed is facing a talent crisis, and a college president’s role is growing increasingly stressful and complex given issues around diversity, return on students’ financial investments, and political pressures.
A new playing field: The changing landscape of college athletics: “College athletics is shifting toward increased professionalism in the wake of new policies and practices, including the interpretation of name, image, and likeness rights, booster-group influence, the use of transfer portals, conference realignment, and Division I membership changes, prompting discussions about the future of student-athletes.”
The future of artificial intelligence in higher education: Embracing disruptive innovation: “AI has ushered in an era of disruption that could rival the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution and has led to a significant shift in public discourse about this technology’s potential benefits and risks. AI’s impact will be profound for higher education, potentially transforming teaching methodologies, student learning experiences, and administrative processes, thereby redefining the traditional model of university education.”
At the academic core: The rising influence and risks of public-private partnerships: “Public-private partnerships have revolutionized higher education, transforming how institutions function, innovate, and deliver value.”
Higher-ed institutions must have strong leaders at their helm–leaders who are not afraid to change and take risks as they work to ensure that colleges and universities are accessible to all that produce highly-educated students who contribute to the betterment of the nation’s future.
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