Those interested in and responsible for the fate of these institutions will find in this book a clearly defined set of risk indicators, a methodology for monitoring progress over time, and an evidence-based understanding of where they reside in the landscape of institutional risk.

In spite of soaring tuition costs, more and more students go to college every year. A bachelor’s degree is now required for entry into a growing number of professions. And some parents begin planning for the expense of sending their kids to college when they’re born. Almost everyone strives to go, but almost no one asks the fundamental question posed by Academically Adrift: are undergraduates really learning anything once they get there? For a large proportion of students, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s answer to that question is a definitive no. Their extensive research draws on survey responses, transcript data, and, for the first time, the state-of-the-art Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test administered to students in their first semester and then again at the end of their second year. According to their analysis of more than 2,300 undergraduates at twenty-four institutions, 45 percent of these students demonstrate no significant improvement in a range of skills—including critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing—during their first two years of college. As troubling as their findings are, Arum and Roksa argue that for many faculty and administrators they will come as no surprise—instead, they are the expected result of a student body distracted by socializing or working and an institutional culture that puts undergraduate learning close to the bottom of the priority list. Academically Adrift holds sobering lessons for students, faculty, administrators, policy makers, and parents—all of whom are implicated in promoting or at least ignoring contemporary campus culture. Higher education faces crises on a number of fronts, but Arum and Roksa’s report that colleges are failing at their most basic mission will demand the attention of us all.

With costs rising, traditional college student populations shrinking, and pundits predicting that huge numbers of colleges will close in the next few decades, small colleges cannot afford to pretend that business-as-usual can sustain them. This book offers five emerging models for how small colleges can hope to survive and thrive in these very challenging times: Traditional; Integrative; Distinctive Program; Expansion, and Distributed. In addition to offering practical guidance for colleges trying to decide which model is for them, the book includes brief institutional profiles of colleges pursuing each model. The book also addresses the evolving role of consortia and partnerships as an avenue to provide additional innovative ways to manage cost and develop new opportunities and programs while maintaining fidelity to mission and strategic vision.

In an era of sound bites, Smart Leadership for Higher Education in Difficult Times provides an outstanding analysis of the context in which today s colleges and universities operate. The essays are thought provoking, insightful and valuable for preparing our institutions for an uncertain future. Through case studies and personal experience, contributors challenge readers to reflect on our own institutions and re-imagine higher education. Graham B. Spanier, The Pennsylvania State University, US Smart Leadership for Higher Education in Difficult Times makes the case that bridging the time from recession to recovery with typical belt-tightening tactics, without a strategy for fundamental change in the higher education business model, is a formula for failure. Globalization, changing demographics, evolving technology and jobs of the future are only beginning to impact the business of higher education. These trends, combined with the lingering effects of constrained revenue, are the building blocks of a new business environment. Reading this book will jump-start your thinking about how innovation, reorganization, prioritization and strategic investing are necessary for institutional success. John Walda, National Association of College and University Business Officers, US In response to falling state support, limited returns from endowments and increasing costs, colleges and universities have turned to examinations of the mission of higher education and new ways in which its missions can be achieved. Two of the many provocative insights described in this series of papers concern the permanent nature of change in the economic, demographic and competitive environment, and the need for more creativity and innovation. Risa Palm, Georgia State University, US Smart Leadership for Higher Education in Difficult Times offers positive ideas and encouragement from some of the leading thinkers and doers in higher education about how to lead proactively in response to the sobering challenges now facing colleges and universities economic stagnation; the completion imperative; rapid demographic changes; global competition; the stunning pace of technological change; and the tensions among affordability and the stubborn growth in college unit costs. William Zumeta, University of Washington and Association for the Study of Higher Education, US As the US economy emerges from the severest recession in a generation, large questions regarding its long-term ramifications for higher education remain unanswered. In fact, the harshest effects of the economic downturn are likely ahead as campus leadership focuses on enrollment, affordability and fundraising. This volume of essays examines the challenges and opportunities for advancing higher education s core missions of education, research and service in a resource-constrained environment. Many parties will wish to return to the old normal, but fulfilling the mission of higher education will require implementing change in the face of opposition, gaining support from key stakeholders, and maintaining morale in the process. The new normal entails innovating to meet the needs for higher education among a growing population of potential students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, many of whom are ill-prepared for a college education and unaware of how to access it, and a population of mid-career students seeking to retool or reinvent themselves for the labor market. The economic success of both individuals and the US economy are directly dependent upon increasing the share of the population receiving a higher education. Chapter authors include college and university presidents and chancellors, and other senior administrators and thought leaders from the higher education community. They provide new and actionable information to enhance decision-making and inform strategic planning as well as a contemporary examination of the business of higher education and areas of potential new research.

The future of higher education depends on how managers respond to the challenge of rising costs, changing labour markets and new technologies. More people will follow some form of education programme in the next couple of decades than did previously in all of human history. Most of the capacity to accommodate this demand will be created in the global online environment. The shift in what is currently ‘valued’ in higher education (towards a knowledge-based economy) is driving the need for new business models. As the pace of change accelerates, education providers need to redefine their strategy for sustainable success. This volume presents the thinking of leading higher education researchers and academics from IDRAC Business School and partner universities regarding the new stakeholders in higher education systems and structures, and the kinds of business models which are needed in order to offer a sustainable value proposition. The articles gathered together here provide an insight into changes taking place in higher education institutions (HEIs) and the responses to such change. They underscore the belief that pervasive technology and ubiquitous Internet access have transformed higher education, putting pressure on HEIs to review their traditional approach in order to deliver anywhere, any ware, and any time. HEIs have a critical role to play in society; the onus is on managers to integrate a philosophy of employability, to support small and medium-sized enterprises to be smarter, and to be more innovative as communities of learning. Both the popular press and academics have initiated debate around the changes taking place and the effectiveness of current business models in higher education. The weaknesses of the current system have been exposed and discussed at length; the general consensus is that a rupture with the past is needed. Now is the time for systemic change and development to prepare learners for the uncharted and uncertain world ahead.