A New Normal for Higher Ed

What is the “new normal” for higher education in the 21st century? That question was the topic for the first session at the 2009 TIAA-CREF Institute Higher Education Leadership Conference Thursday and Friday.
This talk comes at a time when institutional leaders are being forced to make critical decisions for their colleges and universities, cites moderator Muriel Howard, resulting from a shaken economy and a decrease in funding from traditional sources such as state budgets and endowments.
In her opening remarks, Howard referred to the “new normal” as higher ed institutions not being able to count on traditional levels of financial support. “At the same time,” she continued, “colleges and universities have to take the lead in ensuring that America’s economy just doesn’t recover but increases prosperity, grows jobs and creates knowledge.”
Howard, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, also referred to a global challenge for the United States in degrees completed, as its foreign competitors are producing more college graduates than ever before. “America’s future economic success requires that we add millions more highly skilled workers equipped with college degrees – and we are not getting the job done.”
Joining Howard for the discussion were Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University; Bobby Fong, president of Butler University (Ind.); and Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University System.
Asked if institutions will return to business as usual as they ride out the economy, Crow said they need to move forward instead. “There should be no conversation about the way it ought to be,” he explained. “There should only be a conversation about what do we need to be as competitive as we can be as a country going forward. … The last thing we need to do is to think about a normal series of assumptions about what institutions are supposed to be or behave like.”
Reed brought up another point about differentiation: The future of America’s college student population will be students of color in underserved communities. “The new normal is going to be one of figuring out how do we serve this new population, and this new population needs to be well educated,” explained Reed. “They need to be competitive on a worldwide basis, and they need to be the best employees that our businesses and industries can hire.”
This new group, Reed explained, has very little idea about what it takes to go to college. "And we kept it a secret pretty much as long as we could,” he said. “That [group] is going to be the new normal for higher education.”
Crow said his institution is increasing minority student enrollment by two and a half times the rate of growth of majority students. A program has been put forward where incoming freshmen from families making under $60,000 in income will pay nothing to attend.
Fong said that it is also crucial for leaders to reach out to high school and middle school students, as his university is doing, to encourage enrollment: "You don't wait for students to come to you. You need to break the barriers down." The same is true for Reed, who added, "Institutions are going to have to partner with K12 and the community colleges" in areas such as transfer agreements and lower division courses.
Another area that Fong thinks higher ed officials collectively are struggling with what factors may count in defining higher education. “I don’t think there’s one answer,” he said. "There are many different kinds of degrees. What I worry about sometimes is that liberal [arts] education traditionally has been the equivalent of customized tailored clothes rather than off the rack. We have to rethink what it means to deliver an education that is not only of mind but also of character for all of our students."
Each of the three officials was asked what advice he would give his constituents on innovative thinking for their missions. Crow suggested that their college has to be a top guiding factor to all other institutional purposes while Reed offered two points: to never give up and have the passion to represent every best of that institution and keep going forward.
With the theme "Smart Leadership in Difficult Times," the two-day seminar also featured sessions on leadership, revenue sources, and business models.