Higher Education's Reality | Top 10 Things to Expect in 2022

1. Inflated Enrollment Numbers

One of Higher Ed’s dirty little secrets has been the “creativity” that goes into publishing enrollment numbers to show viability. The use of tuition discounting and inflating enrollment numbers has been a common practice of the past, and we can expect to see it continue. As CARES funding dries up, institutional leaders will be forced to look at the future through a business innovation lens (something that many aren’t prepared to do).?

2. A Struggle Toward a Diverse & Inclusive Campus

Diversity & Inclusion initiatives continue to receive public fanfare, but the elephant in the room is that nobody knows how to define it and apply it to day-to-day life in the institution. It sounds great on the surface, but if not approached correctly, it could have an existential impact on long-term sustainability.?

We’ve all seen the announcements on LinkedIn as school after school appoints Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officers. What exactly are they going to do, and what authority are they actually being given? Until schools invest in and have tangible metrics to measure the success of these initiatives, it feels like a backless “me too” move. For campuses to truly have a diversity and inclusion platform, they likely will have to change the makeup of leadership, faculty, and students to match the mission. That means being willing and able to take a chisel (or sledgehammer) to everything from hiring practices and admissions policies to revenue generation and culture. Will campuses be able to make progress in 2022, or will they only have added yet another C-level office on campus without tactical execution authority?

3. Online Education Will Continue to Gain Momentum

Unless you are is in deep denial or just emerging from life under a rock, online education is here to stay. Similar to the retail industry, institutions will need to offer both an in-person and remote option for their consumers. When executed and branded correctly, online education can be a significant catalyst to increase enrollment and create a significant competitive advantage.

4. Institutions Will Be Impacted by the “Great Resignation.”

The pandemic has shed light on many important factors around workplace culture. It has shown employees that work-life balance is important. Employees also want to be a part of a mission that means something to them. Now, more than ever, they want to work with people who resonate with their values.?

Remote work, or the option to do multiple days a week of remote work, is becoming the norm in most industries, and higher education employees are hearing about these accommodations. A college board or President/CEO that doesn’t make a post-pandemic work environment strategy a very high priority in 2022 will lose top talent to the schools that do.

However, if this becomes an HR initiative, you will render it to current HR mindsets with limited capabilities who currently just manage employee handbooks, protocols, manage titles, pay, and benefits. This shift to remote work accommodations requires leaders who can get followership through a strategic plan that not only changes how they operate, but more importantly, fosters a culture that focuses on the needs of their people and not back-office transactions.

5. Continuing Ed Becomes a Viable Enrollment Strategy

People who consider themselves true academics will cringe just reading that headline, but humor me anyway. In the Future of Work world, continuing education represents everything we are looking for—a lifelong learning platform.?

Modern CE is a far cry from the park district level offerings like basket weaving or night classes on Microsoft Excel. New CE strategy will align with the industry’s rapidly changing needs, and deliver results. We should expect to see a big increase in micro-credential learners who come in and out of campus based on their learning needs. CE learners will bring a cash-paying customer paying for high-margin coursework, unlike the traditional academic model that requires heavy subsidy.

6. Cloud SIS Continues to Mature Slowly

Cloud SIS will continue to be immature and struggle to meet the day-to-day needs of campuses. Hundreds of institutions have seen the impact of being oversold solutions that don’t really work. That’s much due to unrealistic expectations of the buyer, stalled projects, software vendors who are not able to meet campus requested functionality, and millions spent with little ROI.?

We will continue to see this play out more and more as CIOs try to band-aid their larger strategic gaps with the promise of it all being solved in the cloud. Campus leaders who don’t put the time into asking good questions will continue to be enamored by the “easy button” transformation pitch and embark on large HR/FIN investments in hopes that a student module will soon be ready when they are done. It won’t be, at least not for the ones who are currently on this journey. Look for alternatives to supplement your student needs.?

7. “Look at Me” Higher Ed Webinars to Continue

Higher Ed Webinars will continue to be in abundance but fail to provide transparent perspectives that can be challenged. These staged, one-way communications will continue to see low attendance due to a lack of true engagement on topics that matter.?

It’s easy to get on a soapbox and speak about amazing products, solutions, or transformational strategy, but is the presenter willing to be vetted with tough questions about their true ROI? How do we fact-check their claims? Just look at all the amazing student cloud webinars we have sat through promising SIS transformations. These glorified timeshare presentations will continue to run, but will not be truly understood by folks who signed on the dotted line.

8. Hybrid Work Enables Flexibility

While we talk about the “Great Resignation,” we will see hybrid work on campus continue to gain traction. Remote work has already become a viable option to complement on-campus work. Hybrid options provide the flexibility staff is looking for and also allow the workforce to prove they can be productive from anywhere.?

Increased hybrid work will reduce the costly campus footprint of traditional offices as well as attract a stronger workforce and foster productivity if designed properly. With next-generation student-facing tools, hybrid support will also enable students to be served faster and more effectively.

9. Conferences Continue to Struggle

Similar to campuses, Higher Ed conferences will continue to see a decline due to Covid-19. Many event producers dependent on “In-Person” event revenue will continue to feel the pain. Conference attendance will struggle to meet historic high levels as attendees weigh Covid protocols, travel restrictions, and budget constraints.?

The reality is most conferences today are still the same old-school, show-and-tell with some networking wrapped around it. Given that in many cases the show-and-tell aspects can be done remotely just as well, conferences have to reinvent to survive. Collaboration and networking are key differentiators that conferences have to pursue. Unfortunately, too many are set in their old ways and can’t reimagine what a modern event looks like. Over time, conferences that don’t reinvent will be in the crosshairs of the true disruptors.

10. Living With the Pandemic

It certainly seems that Covid-19 didn’t get the memo that said the pandemic was just supposed to be a 2020 thing. But the reality is that Covid-19 and its multiple strains will continue to impact every institution. Until the threat of the virus is better under control, protocols will continue to be in place to reduce the spread, and those protocols will drive pivots in strategy for Higher Ed institutions everywhere.