HigherEd has been through a whirlwind of change since 2020, so what’s next?
Colleges and universities, along with their faculty, staff, and administrations, have proven their flexibility and resilience over and over as they have responded to an entirely new landscape of teaching, learning, and working. Looking ahead to the end of 2022 and 2023, what’s on the horizon for HigherEd? Take a look at some of the challenges and opportunities ahead for your institution.
Re-focusing on Student Outcomes
When professors had to quickly shift their classes to virtual teaching formats, the emphasis was on getting the material out there and making sure students could access the learning they needed. In the following months, institutions focused on adjusting to the changes of remote and hybrid learning, as well as hybrid office structures, and worked to make everything digitally accessible. Students struggled during this time, both academically and with their mental health, as their educations were in flux. It’s time to bring the focus back to student outcomes.
Students who go to college but don’t finish with a degree don’t get the same benefits as those who graduate. Measuring student outcomes—and connecting those outcomes directly to courses, faculty members, or programs—is a vital step in ensuring and encouraging student success. With the right data about student outcomes, your institution can make strategic decisions about programs and initiatives that have the greatest impact on student success.
Attracting and Retaining Employees
The talent landscape is difficult for almost all employers right now. HigherEd is facing its own challenges with attracting employees, as well as with keeping faculty and staff struggling with burnout. Even faculty who have tenure are retiring or switching career paths far more than expected. There’s no doubt that finding creative ways to attract and retain employees should be a priority for HigherEd leaders in the coming year. A renewed focus on recruitment marketing, as well as performance management and professional learning, can help you find and keep the best talent.
Data and Connected Tech
Data plays a role in every corner of your campus. Implementing data analytics strategies to understand and act on all the data on your campus is vital for any HigherEd institution today. From digitizing your faculty information to identifying key moments in the student lifecycle, there is so much your institution can learn from data analytics. And there is so much more to learn when your systems are interconnected. Data silos happen when your tech doesn’t connect, and different systems don’t talk to each other. You can miss out on valuable insights and solutions if you aren’t looking at the whole picture. Not to mention that, according to Inside HigherEd, students today “seek any time, any place accessibility and personalized education that fits their circumstances.” To attract and connect with students today, every part of the college experience must be modern, seamless, streamlined, and accessible.
Future of HigherEd Everywhere
The future of HigherEd is not just on your campus. It’s time to embrace the future of the HigherEd landscape in partnership with your peer institutions. With competition higher than ever, and budget cuts still being felt across the country, you can’t afford to make decisions in a vacuum. Instead, it’s time to take a look at what your peers are doing, examine their metrics and share best practices so that everyone in HigherEd can tackle the next challenges together.
Check out PeopleConnect Live 2022
If you’re interested in learning more about how your institution can prepare for what’s next in HigherEd, check out some of our on-demand content from PeopleConnect Live 2022!