Is This Higher Ed's Moment?

Will it rise to the occasion? Or allow the occasion be its downfall?

The moment is here. Or is it? What moment? The one that has been suggested for years now – maybe decades. The one that has been foreshadowed by many things – mounting student debt, the aptly named demographic cliff, and campus unrest from so many inequities – race, gender or socioeconomic. The moment that has been hurried by political opportunism on both sides – but mostly on the right where colleges and universities are painted as bastions of liberal elitism that only serve to fracture the country. And while unfair, there’s at least enough basis of truth in this claim to stoke the fire. 

That moment. 

In this young and fragile century, it seems like every major industry that impacts our quality of life has had their moment. Retail had its moment after 9-11 although like higher education, it too was decades in the making. And while stores and malls and shops still exist, one only needs to look at who is thriving today to see how their moment turned out. Brands like Amazon and Warby Parker found the right balance of virtual and physical experience by meeting customers where they are. Banking had its moment after 2008 when branch closings and bank failures were tracked almost as often as COVID-19 curves are today. Media companies had their moment more recently where brands like Netflix, Hulu, HBO and others innovated, disrupted and again, put their customers in charge by delivering fresh content to be consumed whenever and however they wanted it.

Is this higher ed’s moment?

It certainly should be. But that will require real and meaningful change and (you saw this coming) meeting the customer where they are. Some in higher education are not comfortable using words like customer and consumer to refer to their audience, but they should be. It does not mean that we need to think of education as a commodity or as simply another transactional service. We all accept that it's bigger than that. But it does mean that we need to innovate and change how we deliver the educational experience in a way that is aligned with where students of any age are in 2020 and beyond. Now is the time to do that or as the cliché goes, we will “let a good crisis go to waste”. 

But what exactly does that change look like? I admit to not having all the answers to this most complex and difficult question. It’s well beyond my ability and brain space. But there are some cues out there. In his recent opinion piece for Inside Higher Ed, Paul Hanstedt puts forth a vision for radically shifting the paradigm of how students are taught to think and solve complex problems - something we need now more than ever. To paraphrase his primary point: This horrible, excruciating, eminently shitty moment asks us to recognize that meaningful education takes place when we have the courage to allow our students to be partners in their own learning. Schools like Hampshire College and others continue pursue ways to make the educational experience more transdisciplinary, barrier free and student driven. Can this now become more mainstream?

Another cue is increasing access. Michael Crow’s vision for Arizona State University is to be “measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed”. This is not a new idea. But is it one that could now be embraced more widely as the cracks in our national foundation have been laid bare to expose just how important higher education is in solving our most complex problems? Simply put, all students who want one should have unfettered access to a high-quality education regardless of race, gender or ability to pay. Will all of higher ed finally embrace online learning as one way to accelerate access and now compete to deliver the most meaningful and engaging virtual experience possible? An experience that – dare I say – even rivals being on campus?

And finally, we have cost. Will this existential crisis force higher education to finally find the efficiencies and means to deliver a high-quality education at a lower cost? There’s some reason to be hopeful. For the past decade or two, higher education has been embracing leaders from outside of the academy. No, I am not implying that lifelong education professionals are bad and that corporate executives are good. It’s not that simple. But the mere blending of diverse experiences, skillsets and ideas is starting to have a positive impact. Purdue President Mitch Daniels may be the poster child for this trend with his background in corporate management, federal and state government. And at least in part it has lead to the University’s long-standing tuition freeze – now in its ninth consecutive year – which he has achieved by working closely with academic leadership to find solutions that don’t compromise the quality of a Purdue education. 

Yes, this is higher ed’s moment.

How will it respond? I for one am optimistic. Maybe I just choose to be, but I think it’s more about the people I work with at colleges and universities across the country. With few exceptions they all take their missions very seriously, their jobs very personally and understand the role that their institutions play in the future of our country. So I end with a quote from Abraham Lincoln, who in 1862 signed one of the most important pieces of legislation that still impacts higher ed today – The Morrill Act that created our great land grant universities.

Lincoln said: The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise to the occasion. Perhaps no truer words were ever spoken.