FORBESLEADERSHIPEDUCATION

Five Things We Hope To

See From US Higher
Education In 2024
David Rosowsky
Contributor
I write about higher ed issues, leadership, finance, and innovation.
Follow

Jan 9, 2024,01:24pm EST

• Share to Facebook

• Share to Twitter

• Share to Linkedin

This year's list is a bold call to action and an ambitious set of goals in a year that will
present ... [+]D. ROSOWSKY
 an important event that changes the direction of history
doozy: extraordinary

Higher ed in the US continues to be criticized, called to

account, placed under scrutiny and in the crosshairs. 2023
was a year of watershed moments on campuses, across
university systems, and in the news. And 2024 is shaping up
to be a doozy. One need only read the headlines. Enrollment
challenges. The assault on DEI. Presidential turnover at an
all-time high. Rising costs. Declining public support.
Increased public scrutiny. Rise in unionization. Mental
health concerns. Mergers and closures. Protests and votes of
no-confidence in leaders and boards. Political appointments
to boards and even presidencies of public universities.
Foreign influence. New federal mandates. Cost of athletics.
Deferred maintenance. Allegations of financial
mismanagement and plagiarism. High-profile leaders being
called to account by the national media and by Congress.
The rise of AI. The fall of affirmative action. The list goes on.

ED: Education Department

For institutions filled with so many brilliant people, colleges

and universities have not always appeared so smart.
Learning is slow and meaningful change even slower.
Reading the room eludes academics, whether a public
hearing or the changing world around them. Leaders are
understandably cautious, even fearful. Evasion, capitulating,
and seeking the path of least conflict now seems to be the
playbook for many university leaders, often with disastrous
consequences. Meanwhile, resistance and reticence form the
playbook for many faculty governance groups. At times it
appears higher ed’s own structures and systems (faculty
hiring, promotion, and tenure; shared governance; academic
program review; growing roles/expectations of faculty and
staff in executive searches, institutional budget decisions
and priorities for investments; and even the rigidity of the
academic calendar) exist only to slow if not prevent outright
any needed change. Clinging to tradition is a rallying call
and digging-in a strategy. Change is incremental and rarely
enduring. Even the shock of a global pandemic appears to
have had limited permanent impact on higher education as
campuses seek every opportunity to bounce back to pre-
pandemic operating models. Increasingly we are seeing
sitting and former university presidents call out these
structures and systems as inhibiting institutional evolution
and growth, pathways to financial stability, responses to
societal needs and expectations, and adaptation to reach and
accommodate new populations of learners.

All that said, 2024 can be year of profound growth and

reaffirmation of mission for our nation’s colleges and
universities if their leaders commit and those who support
and enable our leaders (faculty, governing boards, alumni,
and legislators) allow them to lead, providing both a
mandate and a runway. Boards especially must clearly
articulate expectations and goals for university presidents/
chancellors. But they must also exhibit patience while
providing unwavering support through challenges to their
leadership. The last decade has seen a dramatic shortening
of tenures for university leaders for several reasons, one of
which is a combination of unrealistic expectations
(outcomes/timelines) and a hastening to remove the leader,
often under pressure from internal and/or external
constituents.

PROMOTED

Sponsored Content
Leverage TradeStation's platform to trade across asset
classes.
TradeStation
Find out more

This Card's Unique Sign-up Bonus is One of the Best We’ve Seen
The Motley Fool
 So, what are five things we hope to see from our nation’s
colleges and universities in 2024? Some are carried forward
from last year with adaptation (this is the fourth consecutive
year of this list) and some are new. Each of the five stands
alone but together they offer a bold call to action and an
ambitious set of goals in a year that will present significant
economic and political pressures, public scrutiny, and
challenges to the roles, responsibilities, and conduct of
universities and their leaders.

1. We hope colleges and universities will review carefully,

reaffirm where appropriate, reframe where needed, and
recommit fully to their mission. A mission statement
should be simple, straightforward, and immutable. It should
be broadly understood by stakeholders. It should underpin
all decisions, action, and investments. It should provide
both a compass and guiding light to leaders, boards, and
strategic plans. Core missions should be concise and
unambiguous. All stakeholders should know the mission
and core priorities of the university.
MORE FOR YOU
When Considering College Students Should Think More Like
Investors

Brown Becomes Third Ivy League School Reinstating

Standardized Test Requirement

There has been notable mission creep in recent decades as

institutions have used their mission statements as check
lists and parking places for special interest agendas and the
una notable "expansión de la misión" en las últimas décadas por el hecho de que las instituciones usaron su misión como
"checklists" y para dar lugar a atender agendas especiales como las demandas de grupos interesados especiales, así
también como las palabras pegadizas o las frases que capturan la mentalidad a menos que sean los problemas del día.
las "core missions" o misiones principales se pierden en largos textos cada vez más largos
y detallados (y cuidadosamente elaborados)

demands of special interest groups, as well as for buzzwords

and phrases that capture the mindset if not the issues of the
day. Core missions are lost in ever-longer, more verbose
(and carefully crafted) mission statement. Mission
statements have been expansive and inclusive, combining
and in some cases smearing mission and values. For
example, mission may include teaching, research,
engagement, and preparation of graduates to contribute to
society. Values could include academic integrity, global
citizenship, inclusion, and commitments to DEI and lifelong
learning.

Privacidad - Términos

protección de reCAPTCHA
-

CEO: C-suite news, analysis, and advice for top decision

makers right to your inbox.

Sign Up

By signing up, you accept and agree to our Terms of Service (including the class action waiver and
arbitration provisions), and Privacy Statement. Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Privacy
Policy and Terms of Service apply.
And we have seen homogenization of missions. It’s become
difficult to tell one institution’s mission from another, even
across vastly different institutional types. Are the missions
of a community college, a liberal arts college, a regional
public university, and a flagship public research university
really identical? Should they be?
Forbes Leadership

00:54
01:12

About Connatix
V445823
20+ ChatGPT Prompts To Discover Your
Leadership
Style In 2024
ChatGPT reminds us that a university mission statement
“typically reflects the institution's core values, purpose, and
commitment to its stakeholders.” This is clear and sensible.
ChatGPT then goes on to offer the following (generic,
inclusive, and rather uninspiring) example of a university
mission statement:

"At [University Name], our mission is to foster a vibrant and

inclusive learning community that empowers students to
excel academically, think critically, and contribute
meaningfully to society. Grounded in a commitment to
excellence, diversity, and innovation, we strive to inspire a
passion for lifelong learning and a dedication to ethical
leadership. Through rigorous academic programs, cutting-
edge research, and a supportive environment, we aim to
cultivate the intellectual, personal, and social development
of our students. As a hub of knowledge and discovery, we
seek to advance the frontiers of human understanding and
address the challenges facing our global community. Our
dedication to fostering creativity, integrity, and social
responsibility prepares our graduates to make positive
contributions in their professions and engage actively in the
pursuit of a more just and sustainable world."

A second (identical) prompt to ChatGPT yields:

"At [University Name], we are committed to the

transformative power of education and the pursuit of
knowledge. Our mission is to provide a dynamic and
inclusive learning environment that nurtures intellectual
curiosity, fosters critical thinking, and promotes a culture of
innovation. Rooted in the principles of academic excellence,
diversity, and community engagement, we aim to empower
our students to become well-rounded individuals who
contribute meaningfully to a rapidly evolving global society.
Through cutting-edge research, experiential learning
opportunities, and a dedication to ethical leadership, we
inspire a lifelong commitment to learning, personal growth,
and service to others. By embracing diversity and fostering a
spirit of collaboration, we strive to create a vibrant
community of scholars dedicated to making a positive
impact on the world."

You get the idea. Exercises in crafting a mission statement,

however well-intended and inclusive, are destined to result
in something indistinguishable from that of any other
college or university. This homogenization is also an
unfortunate by-product of college rankings. Colleges and
universities have lost their distinctiveness, and even their
capability of distinguishing themselves from one another,
and instead wind up chasing one another in pursuit of one
set of ideals. Under this “one-size-fits-all” paradigm, it is not
possible they are best serving their particular audiences of
learners, their market, or even the employers of their
graduates.

We hope colleges and universities will break this pattern.

Even if adopting largely similar statements to those used by
others, they should add one or more statements about their
distinctiveness, what sets them apart, and why that matters.
And they should separate core mission from underpinning
values, creating clarity around what they do and how they do
it.

2. We hope colleges and universities will prioritize faculty

and staff, not just students. The goal of being a student-
centric university is noble and difficult to argue against. It
aligns perfectly with mission, speaks directly to target
audiences, and inspires both goodwill and philanthropy. But
this relentless focus on student satisfaction, success, and
wellbeing (and ever-growing expectations for the same) has
come at a cost. While students’ needs were being assessed
and met, commensurate attention and investment in the
satisfaction, success, and wellbeing of the university’s
employees, namely faculty and staff, were not. At many
schools, salaries failed to keep up with cost-of-living
increases or even held flat year after year, benefits
diminished, positions were eliminated and responsibilities
added to those of others, and many positions went unfilled.
The pandemic had serious effects on faculty and staff and
their families. Little attention was paid to faculty and staff
physical, mental, and emotional health, and even fewer
resources made available. This left many questioning
whether they wanted to return to work, and if they did,
whether the wanted to do so at their current institution or
even at any institution of higher education. Staff positions
became harder to fill and faculty departures for other
universities (and other careers) increased markedly over
pre-pandemic rates.

Faculty and staff are the backbones of colleges and

universities. While students pay tuition, which in turns pays
salaries, leaders and boards must not lose sight of the fact
that the product their institutions provides to students is
critically dependent on the quality, commitment, and efforts
of its employees. It’s time to take a new look at how
employees are recruited, retained, recognized, and rewarded
– differentially and purposefully – across all employment
sectors at colleges and universities. It’s also important that
faculty and staff are supported in their careers (and career
advancement) and provided services to enable them to stay
healthy, happy, and productive – in other words, to feel a
sense of professional satisfaction and to thrive. The cost of
losing a great faculty or staff member is too high not to do
this. The cost of replacing that individual is even greater.
Attracting and retaining faculty and staff should be just as
important as enrolling and graduating students.

3. We hope colleges and universities (and their leaders) will

boldly lead and not weakly follow, chase, or be pushed.
Too often we see weak (empty, coached, or canned)
responses, waffling, capitulation, and lack of originality from
campus leaders, whether in charting a course forward for
their institution or responding to questions from the media
or, as we have seen recently, legislators. Leaders are
understandably cautious. We hope there will be leaders,
backed by their boards, who assert bold vision and push
aggressive agendas of change and innovation. We hope
institutions carve their own paths rather than blindly
following in the paths of others. We hope presidents and
chancellors (again, backed by their boards) are able to stand
up to external pressures and even bullying from political
leaders, legislators, and wealthy and influential alumni. The
trend of increased politicization of universities is deeply
concerning. Colleges and universities must remain apolitical
if they are to fulfill their dual missions of teaching and
discovery while preparing students to ask questions, seek
facts, and think critically. They must also be entirely free of
any political influence (real or perceived) if they are to help
to address the challenges facing our nation and solve the
grand challenges we face as a people and planet. They must
be led to these solutions by the data not any political
position. Finally, they must eschew political influence and
exhibit no political preference or bias if they are to become
the ‘public square’ described below.
4. We hope colleges and universities will connect to
communities, build partnerships, and create value.
Higher ed institutions must embrace authentic engagement
with their constituents and their communities. The stresses
of the global pandemic, the loss of public confidence, both
the enrollment and the workforce challenges, and even the
forces that threaten our democracy all point to the need for
colleges and universities to commit themselves to engage
authentically and meaningfully with those around them.
Internally, this means creating time and spaces to hear from
(and really listen to) students, faculty, and staff about their
challenges, changing needs, and expectations of their
academic community, but also the ways they want to
contribute to finding mission-focused, outcomes-driven, and
sustainable paths forward for the institution.

Externally, they must engage in regular and intentional

outreach, engagement, and partnership with community
members, community organizations, public agencies, and
local businesses. Such touch points and action points break
down barriers, build trust, create new opportunities, and
add value in both directions. They also bring people, ideas,
and resources together to address mutual needs and shared
priorities.

The public needs to understand the importance of higher

education today, the opportunities colleges and universities
are providing to their students, and the many ways they are
contributing to their neighborhoods and communities. And
colleges and universities need to do a much better job
articulating their value proposition, not only to prospective
students and families, but to legislators, business leaders,
and the broader public. Colleges and universities should
articulate and re-affirm commitments to access,
affordability, career-readiness, post-graduation outcomes,
social mobility, discovery and innovation, service, life-long
learning, program/degree options for non-traditional
students, and local/regional economic impact. And they
should communicate specific outcomes to close the loop on
their clearly articulated value proposition. Communicating
mission, value, and impact to the public – whether it’s the
local business community, prospective students and their
families, or state legislators – and authentic engagement
with constituents to build trust and create meaningful
partnerships must be ongoing commitments, not periodic
exercises.

5. We hope college and universities will help our nation

heal, redefine middle ground, embrace civility, and
foster civil discourse and scientific inquiry. We hope
they reaffirm, promote, celebrate, and leverage their
foundational commitment to being a public good to become
the ‘public square’ for civil discourse, dialogue, and
debate. Civility should be added to the ideals of equity,
diversity, and inclusion. Colleges and universities must
remain institutions and communities of free inquiry,
discovery, and thought. They must strive for inclusion of all
thoughts, welcome all perspectives, and commit to
maintaining a nurturing and safe space for students to learn
facts, form opinions, shape values, and defend all of these.
US higher education must, at all costs, resist becoming
politicized (as so many other institutions in our society have
become in recent years) and must eschew extreme
ideologies that oppose, prohibit, or threaten others. Just as
higher ed has been called upon to solve social problems or
shape new policy in the past, they can step up today to help
re-establish and re-affirm middle ground as a place free
from extreme ideology, hatred, violence, and non-tolerance.
(By definition, of course, our colleges and universities seek
to end ignorance, replacing it with knowledge,
understanding, perspective, and reasoned opinion.) In this
way, they become an example for individuals, families,
communities, political parties, and our society. By creating
the inviting and welcoming physical and intellectual spaces,
colleges and universities can become the literal and
figurative ‘public squares’ in our communities and across
our nation.

We have become so polarized, so marginalized, so pushed to

the extreme edges that our very democracy is being
threatened from within. Higher ed can lead our nation on a
return to civility, to fact-based discourse, to freedom of
opinion and thought, to tolerance, and to building an
educated, engaged, and prosperous society. As they have
been so many times in our history, our nation’s higher
educational institutions are being called upon once again.
They can, and must, become the public square that is so
desperately needed and will be so hopefully embraced.
Colleges and universities should seek to become the ‘public square’ for civil discourse,
dialogue, ... [+]STOCK IMAGE
Now, more than ever (and whether they realize it or not), the
nation is looking to higher ed for stability, direction,
innovation, and hope. The nation is hurting, if not yet
broken, and most in this country realize the need to come
together, to rediscover middle ground in order to restore
confidence and trust in our politicians and one another, and
even protecting our democracy, economic and national
security. US higher educational institutions are well
positioned to do all of this and more if they choose. And
choose they must. At least some colleges and universities,
those having the collective vision, will, leadership, and above
all the conditions for doing so. The latter is perhaps most
elusive or most beyond control of any one leader or board.
Conditions are a matter of culture and timing, more than of
resources or commitment, and often cannot be created
quickly. A dynamic and visionary leader cannot affect major
change without both internal (faculty, staff, students) and
external (governing board, legislature) mandates, trust, and
support. All the right conditions must be in place. And this is
far from assured at every college and university. But if some
segment of higher ed is able to seize upon the needs,
challenges, and opportunities 2024 presents, those
institutions will likely do more for their visibility,
reputation, and rankings than any other modest/
incremental effort (the likes of which have dominated
unoriginal and largely unchanged efforts year after year by
colleges and universities to drive enrollment, rankings, and
even philanthropic giving). Leaning into these challenges/
opportunities offers a chance for select universities to truly
distinguish themselves, elevate themselves above others
against whom they have traditionally competed, establish a
new tier of institutions that truly serve the national
interests, and even engender new levels and sources of
support.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

David V. Rosowsky serves as Strategic Advisor for the Council on Higher Education as a
Strategic Asset (www.hesaus.org) and as Deputy Commissioner for Education of the
Global Tech Security Commission (www.techdiplomacy.org).
David Rosowsky
Follow
A 30+ year veteran of higher ed, with 15+ years of academic leadership
experience, I am both passionate about and deeply committed to promoting
the power and... Read More
• Editorial Standards
• Print
• Reprints & Permissions