Leaders from both private and public institutions provide a 360-degree view of the challenges and opportunities facing higher education—and offer a manifesto for restoring relevance and respect. Where is the value in higher education? How can higher education restore its relevance and trust with students and parents? Are there really any meaningful differences between public and private higher education? This volume probes those questions and more, exploring the myriad issues that have led many people to question whether higher education is worth the sacrifices it requires of parents and students. Drawing on the experience and expertise of a wide variety of highly renowned academics, respected government officials, and well-grounded individuals from the private sector, this thought-provoking book offers readers simple but powerful ways to evaluate whether prospective colleges and universities merit the very substantial investment of time, abilities, and financial resources they necessitate. Readers will learn what to look for in a college or university and what questions to ask in selecting an institution of higher education. They will also learn how parents, students, academicians, and other stakeholders can advocate for changes to benefit both higher education and the constituency it serves.

This book provides a palette of practical strategies that higher education leaders—administrators, faculty members, academic advisors, and the like—can apply to the task of rebuilding support. Once closely associated with the common good, higher education is now regarded principally as a benefit for individuals. As a consequence, support for colleges and universities has declined dramatically over the past 50 years, having serious implications for both public and private institutions. After summarizing the erosion of public funding, acknowledging examples of “self-inflicted damage,” and proposing tactics for improvement, this book suggests how to engage natural allies and advocates of higher education, describes three key priorities that every higher education leader should pursue, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining rigorous and conspicuous transparency. Offering a clear-eyed account of this widely lamented issue and innovative approaches for addressing it, this book is essential reading for new, seasoned, and aspiring leaders in higher education.

The resilience and adaptability of higher education systems are under unprecedented strain. From natural disasters to pandemics, and economic crises to political turmoil, universities and colleges worldwide have grappled with a myriad of crises that disrupt their core missions of teaching, research, and community engagement. As we find ourselves at the crossroads of these tumultuous times, the imperative to reconstruct and revitalize higher education systems becomes increasingly evident. Rebuilding Higher Education Systems Impacted by Crises: Navigating Traumatic Events, Disasters, and More is a pioneering work that addresses the critical issues surrounding the restoration of higher education systems in the wake of various crises. This book serves as a roadmap for educators, administrators, policymakers, and stakeholders who share a commitment to preserving and advancing higher education, even in the face of adversity. The 21st century has witnessed a rapid escalation in the frequency and severity of crises affecting higher education institutions. These crises span from the abrupt shift to online learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic to the enduring ramifications of climate change on campus infrastructure. Additional factors such as financial pressures, evolving demographics, and the ever-changing technological landscape further complicate the challenge. This book embarks on a deep exploration of these challenges and offers practical solutions, making it an indispensable resource for anyone vested in the future of higher education.

Restoring Trust in Organizations and Leaders is the first volume to adopt the mulidisciplinary approach required to understand the decline in public trust in contemporary institutions, and to propose and assess remedies.

This multidisciplinary book brings together scholars from Norway and the UK to discuss the notion of trust within the structures and forms of higher education located in two distinctive localities. The meaning of trust is multi-variant and nuanced, but is omnipresent in the literature on higher education ranging from student engagement to policy exhortations. A key feature of this book is the effort to integrate the term ‘trust’ conceptually, functionally and phenomenological more generally as well as within the context of higher education. Practice from within Norway and the UK is used to illustrate and expose relevant similarities and varieties in trust and the (possible) lack of it within the sector. The book thus faces the complexity of trust and its distinctive manifestation through a number of analytical lenses and realities.

There is a discernible and growing gap between the qualifications that a university degree certifies and the actual generic, 21st-century skills with which students graduate from higher education. By generic skills, it is meant literacy and critical thinking skills encompassing problem solving, analytic reasoning and communications competency.

Democracy, sustainability and social justice: the leading role that higher education must play in maintaining these three principles This publication, Higher education leadership for democracy, sustainability and social justice, arises from the global forum that the Council of Europe, the International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility and Democracy, the Organization of American States and the International Association of Universities organised at Dublin City University in June 2022. It also arises from the challenges of Covid-19, which both highlighted and contributed to the fragility of democracy, with the increasing erosion of democratic participation, the deepening of extreme inequities, the strengthening of identity and nationalistic politics and the promotion of populist anti-intellectualism, involving attacks on science and knowledge itself. In this book, authors from Europe, the United States and Latin America argue that democracy, sustainability and social justice are inextricably linked, and that we can impact none of them unless higher education plays an important role in identifying the issues and helping society devise a viable and robust response. The book argues that higher education must do more than develop and disseminate knowledge and understanding. Higher education must influence the way individuals and societies behave. Higher education must lead. The importance of this leadership is illustrated by the inclusion of the Dublin Global Forum in the programme of the Irish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and will be borne out by the positions and actions of the higher education community.