Those in the trenches don’t need to be told higher education is facing serious challenges, but the reminders are everywhere. As reported by Inside Higher Ed, there’s a growing shortage of our prized input: undergraduates. Meanwhile the value of our output (a degree) is being questioned. A recent Gallup survey found that only a third of students believe they will graduate with the skills needed to be successful in the job market. On top of that, thought leaders such as Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor known for his work on disruptive innovation, has predicted that half of universities will go bankrupt in a decade. Hyperbole? Maybe not.
Connections Are Everything: Putting Relationships at the Heart of Higher Ed
As academic leaders, we are under so much pressure to deliver—enrollment targets, strategic plans, graduation rates, AI policies, and on and on—that we can lose sight of what our students