A Sectorwide Approach to Higher Ed’s Future

Access. Affordability. Social mobility. Student outcomes. These are challenges all of us in higher education face today. Is a postsecondary degree affordable? What is that degree worth in the job market? Is a degree or a professional credential the right path for a student’s desired career?

These are important topics, but today’s debates too often narrowly focus on acute symptoms and not the underlying strategic and systemic issues. And we typically address them from the type of institution where we each sit, with emphasis on the distinctions between public, private and community college institutions or the perceived trade-off between scholarly research and student thriving. While these are relevant elements to consider, when only taken individually, we miss the opportunity for comprehensive solutions.

We have to think differently about the future of higher education. And rather than limit our work to what one type of institution or program can achieve, we should look across the entire higher education sector.

A sectorwide approach is needed because the economics of higher education are not going to hold. Price inflation will not be a successful future strategy, and unfolding enrollment and demographic changes demand innovation. Individual universities cannot be all things to all people and should not rely on small changes at the margins with the hope of squeezing out incremental gains. Institutions should focus on where they excel and consider how those strengths contribute to our overall higher education needs.

The challenges we face in higher education are not altogether different from my previous world of health care. Both the higher education system and the health-care system initially were built with the providers at the center—the faculty and the doctors, respectively. That design created a set of principles and practices that succeeded for many years. But we still work within those structures today, even though the marketplace has dramatically shifted and demands new approaches. Both sectors face the same questions: Who has access? How do we achieve affordability? Are we delivering quality outcomes?

To evolve our thinking on these questions, we should focus on the value proposition of higher education and market differentiation. This sectorwide approach will empower us to serve the varied needs of today’s students individually and collectively. If the purpose of higher education is to train the next generation for success throughout their economic and social lives and create knowledge with impact, then we have to deliver experiences, opportunities and financial frameworks that meet this moment.

Pursuing this new way of thinking requires operating universities within the constructs and budgets of today while aspiring to the new models that can deliver the future higher education landscape we want. There are three elements to this approach.

• Put the student and the research at the center. Thriving students and impactful scholarship go hand in hand. The common theme is you have to be intentional about both and determine the desired outcomes for the intended audiences. Here at American University, we doubled our externally funded research over the last five years, and we opened a new Hall of Science that stands alongside our historic strengths in public affairs and international service. More than 50 percent of chemistry and biology research papers published by AU faculty have undergraduate student co-authors. Our commitment to experiential education also is illustrated by the fact that 90 percent of undergraduates have had at least one internship.
• Approach the higher ed sector systematically and differentiate what you do best. Today’s post–high school students—undergraduate, graduate and professional students, and lifelong learners—have a more diverse set of educational needs than ever before. We can build on the strengths of each institution and avoid relying on overly broad offerings that lack the customized experiences students need and that future employers want. And when we address a problem in our own community, we should use it as an opportunity to also think about systematic solutions. For example, AU partnered with Martha’s Table and Trinity Washington University on an early childhood education program that meets a new Washington, D.C., licensing requirement for childcare workers by delivering stackable credentials, starting with the child development associate certification and continuing through a bachelor’s degree from either Trinity Washington or AU’s School of Education.
• Focus on community on your campus and beyond. Higher education is not an individual sport. Engagement and responsibility are core lessons we must teach our students and place at the center of our institutions. Students, faculty members and staff members pursuing their individual paths and purposes all will be more successful if they learn and work in a supportive and inclusive environment built on a shared mission. Our task is to create the systems that help the members of each university community thrive and position them to be change makers in the broader communities where we live. At AU, we have a comprehensive inclusive excellence strategy that is integrated into all our work, because we know that we cannot succeed without being truly inclusive. Our focus on community is also the reason we pushed so hard to become a carbon-neutral university, having reached this goal in 2018, two years ahead of our target.

In more than five years at American University, one of the things I learned is that it can take more time than anticipated to make change. But I’ve also learned through engagement with fellow presidents and academic leaders around campus and across the country that there is an interest and more importantly a willingness to think differently. We can harness that energy for change through many of our existing mechanisms. We can help each other with the critical strategic questions I’ve outlined, think broadly about the novel approaches that can be leveraged at scale and, most importantly, create a next chapter for higher education that sustains its vital contributions and works for students.