Dive Brief:
- A survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed found a majority of college business officials agree higher education is in financial crisis, with a bleak outlook for the next 10 years.
- More than 80% of business officers believe institutions must be more innovative and cost-conscious about academic offerings.
- More than half of survey respondents indicated faculty do not play a significant role in major budgeting decisions.
Dive Insight:
A majority of college business officers understand higher education is an industry under siege, in part, because of changes to industry, political spending ideology and new trends in workforce development. It’s one thing to acknowledge the changes, and a totally different proposition to identify how to fix it.
Colleges must be more deliberate in making degree programs synonymous with, or replacements for industrial credentials. It is no longer solvent for students to understand theoretical knowledge without practical foundations, and this is at the core of why many companies are creating industry bootcamps and credentialing programs to attract students and professionals. Cost and credentialing are the new focus points of higher education, and institutions that don’t figure it out soon are doomed to lose revenue and support in the marketplace.
