Changing Higher Ed

Higher ed leaders can learn what 6,000 current students, 3,000 people who stopped out, and 3,000 more who never enrolled in a U.S. college or university say their barriers have been to finishing their education over three years. The results come from a study by the Lumina Foundation called “The State of Higher Ed” in partnership with Gallup. In the first of a two-part podcast episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with one of The State of Higher Ed’s leading architects, VP of Impact and Planning Dr. Courtney Brown of the Lumina Foundation, an independent private foundation that increased the number of states with attainment goals from one in 2008 to 48 today. It has also played a significant role in boosting the percentage of people in the U.S. with post-secondary credentials from 38% to 84% during the same period. Dr. Brown discusses how “The State of Higher Ed” was conducted, what questions were asked, and why students wanted to stop out in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Other discussion topics include how to access Lumina Foundation’s attainment tool and the Foundation’s three concentrations. Podcast Highlights The Lumina Foundation partnered with Gallup for The State of Higher Ed and conducted the research in Fall 2020, 2021, and 2022. Early in the pandemic, participants were either unsure if they wanted to stay enrolled or still thinking about enrolling, but health and COVID concerns were at the forefront. People still valued post-secondary education and wanted to come back. In 2020, health concerns were the top reason for students thinking of stopping out. In 2021, a large percentage of students said they were still thinking about stopping out, but the top reason was emotional stress. That number almost doubled from the year before. Reasons for the emotional stress included working full time, worrying about their family, and struggling to make ends meet. In the fall of 2022, a high percentage of students still considered stopping out because of emotional stress. The Lumina Foundation, which ensures more people of color have opportunities not just to pursue but successfully complete a high-quality credential, releases an annual online tool called Stronger Nation, which breaks down where every state is regarding attainment by race and ethnicity. Since 2008, the Lumina Foundation has increased the number of states with an attainment goal from one to 48. The Lumina Foundation has three different concentration areas: getting more people to enroll in post-secondary education, keeping them enrolled, and ensuring they complete a post-secondary credential that is high-quality, employment-aligned, and not dead ends. Read the transcript → About Our Podcast Guest – Dr. Courtney Brown Courtney Brown, Ph.D., is vice president of impact and planning for Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis committed to making learning opportunities beyond high school available to all. As the chief data and research officer, Brown oversees the Foundation’s strategic planning, learning, impact, and effectiveness efforts. She also leads Lumina’s international engagement. She joined the foundation in 2011 with a strong background in performance measurement, research, and evaluation. Before 2011, Brown was a senior research associate at the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University. There, she led studies and evaluations focused on education and post-high school programs within the United States and across Europe. Brown is a frequent speaker and panelist in the United States and other countries regarding postsecondary strategy, student success, data-driven decision-making, and evidence-based practices. She has developed and shared manuals, working papers, articles, and books on undergraduate research, performance measurement, randomized control trials, and other evaluation methods. She has also conducted webinars and workshops on evaluation, performance measurement, and success in education beyond high school. Dr. Courtney Brown on LinkedIn → About the Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton, the host of Changing Higher Ed®, is a consultant to higher ed institutions in governance, accreditation, strategy and change, and mergers. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/. The Change Leader’s Social Media Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com #changinghighered #thechangeleader #higheredpodcast  

A lot has been happening up on the Hill that affects higher education. In his latest podcast episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton catches up on the latest news with Tom Netting, president of TEN Government Strategies, who advocates before Congress, federal agencies, and state governments on behalf of private institutions of higher education and post-secondary education companies.   Tom discusses the parts of the infamous debt ceiling bill that are important to the higher ed community, the two-year cap on discretionary spending that will impact the Department of Education, the House and Senate voting in favor of disapproving the Biden administration's proposal for student debt cancellation, income-driven repayment changes being proposed at the regulatory level, and the return to the repayment, the Department’s reaction to the Biden administration’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Second Forum on NC-SARA, when the upcoming Neg Reg will likely take place, Title IX and short-term Pell eligibility updates, and the Department’s strong look at the definition of a third-party servicer.   Highlights   The McCarthy-Biden compromise codifies student loan repayments resuming since Congress and the president have recognized that the pandemic is over. The bill proposes that 60 days after June 30, the student loan repayment process begins anew, including the requirement for interest to start accruing, for collection agencies to connect, and for servicers to reconnect with the borrowers. The Department is once again beginning to discuss with servicers how to implement contact with borrowers to reeducate and refresh their memory of these responsibilities. The transition won't start right on September 1. There'll be some lag time for borrowers to get back into the transition.   The two-year cap on overall discretionary spending in the broader context of the McCarthy-Biden compromise will affect higher ed policy and likely complicate the ability to expand Pell Grants. Other spending programs will probably have to be reduced to expand Pell Grants. The two-year cap will worsen the Department of Education’s situation since it did not receive the money it requested in the fiscal year 2023 appropriations process for more staff.   Over the last three to four weeks in May and into the first week of June, the House and the Senate voted in favor of disapproving the Biden administration's proposal in the actual joint resolution for student debt cancellation, income-driven repayment changes being proposed at the regulatory level and the return to the repayment. The Biden administration will undoubtedly veto the disapproval, and there won't be enough votes to override the veto. So the Biden administration will continue to pursue these endeavors. But the Supreme Court will also weigh in on this process and the two pieces of litigation it heard on February 28, sometime in June. The Supreme Court will decide on race equality and admissions this month. The Court will likely reject it.   The Biden administration released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that addresses gainful employment, administrative capability, financial responsibility, certification procedures, and the ability to benefit.   For gainful employment, the Department came up with a new metric, which they're calling an Earnings Premium Test or Earnings Premium Metric. This attempts to assess the earnings potential of individuals shortly after they graduate from programs below the associate's degree level and up to associate’s, baccalaureate, and master’s degree offerings to determine whether the earnings potential is comparable to or literally more than the average of individuals aged 24 to 35. Schools will have their eligibility for their programs based on this metric and the prior borrower defense to repayment metrics. From the school's perspective, the ability for a cohort going all the way to individuals age 34 versus an individual two to three years after graduation doesn't seem to be a direct corollary.   The earnings potential and debt-to-earnings assessments will now be part of the Financial Value Transparency List. All programs at all institutions will start seeing publicly provided information on how their programs fare under both metrics. It will only impact the eligibility of those subject to the short-term program cap, meaning less than an associate's degree or state colleges, universities, and others, but all proprietary programs. The Department acknowledges it has four years of earnings and debt data for all institutions and their programs. The Department, this administration, and prior administrations have said that the way in which the definitions of an institution of higher education are structured in the law doesn’t suggest that that's the intent of Congress.   NC-SARA is doing a policy revision of its entire set of standards, including distance education and enrollment criteria. In early January and into the first couple of months of this year, communities provided about 60 recommendations. NC-SARA is currently in forum two and phase two, where groups can respond to the 60 or so proposals. The deadline for that recently passed. NC-SARA’s goal is to have its policy revisions completed by the end of this year to go into effect next year.   The Department recently questioned NC-SARA about its misrepresentation and aggressive recruiting, advertising, and marketing changes to the regulations that go into effect July 1 of this year to see if significant revisions need to be done or to have it dismantled.   The Title IX discussions on the concerns about athletes’ eligibility and participation in sports have been delayed. What also hangs in the balance is the broader, comprehensive retooling and recasting of the regulations around Title IX, including all the VAWA regulations and all the issues related to sexual discrimination, such as the institutions’ responsibilities, the support services for and regulations protecting the rights and the concerns of the accuser and the accused.   On June 9, new safeguard rules and regulatory changes under the Federal Trade Commission and the protection of personally identifiable information, cybersecurity, and the like will be enacted. They will require more substantive assessment routinely on an annual basis in relation to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the development of plans, and the development of more than just an individual responsible for this. It will be integrated into the very culture and core of all institutions that have any relation to federal dollars, including all institutions of higher education. This is a stepping stone to get to NIST 800-171.   Higher ed needs to consider one bill on short-term Pell eligibility and the opportunity for individuals in blue-collar work to potentially have access to Pell Grants to meet the demand for skilled workers in fulfillment of the infrastructure bill.   The Department is taking a strong look at the definition of a third-party servicer and proposed a Dear Colleague letter with changes to those regulations earlier in the year and then walked back to different timelines for implementation. The Department has some concerns with OEMs. How the Department attempted to define the third-party servicer may have included too many entities.   Read the transcript →   About Our Podcast Guest Tom Netting Having spent all of his professional career devoted to higher education policy oversight and implementation, Tom Netting has an extensive knowledge of the laws and regulations governing all aspects of higher education. His considerable background and experience have afforded him the opportunity to view the development and implementation of federal higher education and workforce development policy in their entirety – including issues related to higher education and workforce development, health care, veteran affairs policies, and the procurement of federal appropriations.   About the Host   Dr. Drumm McNaughton, the host of Changing Higher Ed®, is a consultant to higher ed institutions in the areas of governance, accreditation, strategy and change, and mergers. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com   #changinghighered #higherednews #washingtonupdate

A new study on what campus leaders can do to help their graduates move into good jobs by age 30 found that the most effective ways for young adults to succeed in the workforce generally involve attaining post-secondary education degrees. The Georgetown Center for Education in the Workforce (CEW)’s “What Works: 10 Education, Training, and Work-Based Pathway Changes that Lead to Good Jobs” determines how much the likelihood of young adults getting a good job can be improved by some specific changes they make with a high school diploma, community college education, and/or university credits.   In this podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with two CEW professors who worked on the study, Research Professor of Education and Economics Dr. Zack Mabel and Associate Director of Editorial Policy and Senior Editor/Writer Kathryn Campbell. They discuss how they conducted the study, the highlights, what the policy levers and interventions can be to help students make these top 10 pathway changes, some of the barriers campuses might face in achieving them, how higher ed can overcome these challenges, and some successful models.   Highlights   The study focuses on scenarios where one change with no predeterminations is introduced and identifies if it improved a young adult’s likelihood of having a good job by age 30. For example, what would happen if a person who started in a four-year program completed their degree instead of stopping out before their mid-20s? The study defines a good job as one that pays a minimum of around $38,000 in 2020 for workers younger than age 35. The median pay is around $57,000 annually. Good jobs also provide health care and retirement benefits, etc. Many of the top 10 effective pathway changes involve attaining post-secondary education. Young adults who enroll before their mid-20s see a 16% point boost in their likelihood of having a good job by age 30. Those who enroll in an AA or certificate program get a 6% point boost. Those who complete an associate's degree or certification instead of stopping out experience an 8% point boost. For each pathway change, the study asks what policy levers and interventions higher ed institutions can introduce to make them a reality. Examples include expanding recruitment efforts and creating stronger partnerships between high schools and colleges. More outreach and advising can demystify college for students. Providing more financial aid and more information about financial aid can help prospective students make a true risk assessment. Most families are turned off by the tuition price. What an institution's published or sticker price is and what the net price or out-of-pocket cost students will have to pay can be misleading. Providing more generous financial aid targeted based on need and simple to apply for has a strong positive impact on increasing enrollment and persistence.  For example, The Hill program at the University of Michigan makes students aware of how much financial aid they will receive when they're considering applying. This has increased the likelihood that students will apply to and enroll in the University of Michigan. Wraparound support programs and comprehensive student support programs like the CUNY ASAP program for the community colleges in New York City is a holistic program that works. The Dell Scholars Program at four-year institutions provides financial aid and individualized continuous advisement in real-time with a full-time staff member. Although expensive, countless studies have demonstrated that the impacts they have in terms of increasing persistence and graduation pay off. The college experience will not be linear for every student. Therefore, strengthen partnerships between two-year and four-year institutions, for example. Students who start off at a two-year institution will have a much easier means of making the leap to a four-year institution. Develop reverse transfer interventions and degree-reclamation policies where students who stopped out before obtaining a four-year degree can still get an associate’s degree if they completed enough credits. Colorado automatically grants associate's degrees to these students instead of waiting for them to apply or for a college administrator to make them aware of the opportunity. Build stronger and more effective college partnerships between institutions. Help students take advantage of the resources at another institution.   Read the transcript →   About Our Podcast Guests   Kathryn Peltier Campbell  Kathryn Peltier Campbell is associate director of editorial policy and senior editor/writer at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Kathryn has extensive experience writing, editing, and directing content development for publications focused on topics such as diversity and equity in postsecondary education and the workforce, higher education’s civic mission, and the value of education in contemporary contexts. Prior to joining CEW, she edited periodicals and reports at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, including the flagship periodical Liberal Education. Kathryn has an MA in English from the University of Virginia, where she also earned a BA with a double major in English and physics.   Dr. Zack Mabel Zack Mabel is a research professor of education and economics at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, where he leads research projects that leverage insights from labor and behavioral economics to promote educational opportunity, equity, and economic mobility. His work is motivated by the goal of improving college and later life outcomes for members of historically marginalized groups to achieve a shared vision of economic prosperity in the United States. Prior to joining CEW, he worked most recently as a policy research scientist at the College Board. Zack earned his BA from Brandeis University, MPP from the University of Michigan, and EdD in Quantitative Policy Analysis of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.   About the Host   Dr. Drumm McNaughton, the host of Changing Higher Ed®, is a consultant to higher ed institutions in the areas of governance, accreditation, strategy and change, and mergers. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com   #changinghighered #thechangeleader #higheredpodcast

The liberal arts are currently under fire in higher education, with Marymount University in Virginia recently eliminating nine such undergraduate degrees. But should most colleges and universities follow suit, it would harm democracy in America, according to Jeff Scheuer, author of Inside the Liberal Arts: Critical Thinking and Citizenship. “There’s no way a democracy can function based on people who only have technical knowledge and no citizenship skills.”   In this podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Jeffrey Scheuer about what role the liberal arts should play in relation to STEM and vocational education, how liberal arts help graduates become better citizens, what courses fall within the jurisdiction of the liberal arts, and why the liberal arts are and should remain engrained in the American identity.     Highlights   Inside the Liberal Arts identifies the three main areas of citizenship: economic, civic, and cultural. Without the liberal arts, the cultural and civic aspects of citizenship would be lost. Citizenship is any transaction between the individual and society that includes both give and take. The civic domain includes voting, serving on juries, signing petitions, and anything performed in the civic arena that provides input. The cultural domain consists of the arts and religious and sports institutions because they are all part of the public arena.  The Liberal Arts isn't limited to the humanities. The social sciences, including economics and the natural sciences, especially when dealing with technology and climate change, are part of the liberal arts. Law courses should also be prerequisites since everyone is affected by and lives under the law and, therefore, should gain a sense of what the law entails.  Businesses are looking for liberal arts graduates, not necessarily people who studied business. Similarly, editors are looking for liberal arts majors, not journalism majors, because they have broader educations. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, who founded the precursor to the University of Pennsylvania, believed that higher education was more than just a pre-professional exercise.  The US became a superpower in the last 170 years since the Civil War, with primarily a liberal arts model of higher education.  Another book that complements Inside the Liberal Arts is After the Ivory Tower Falls by Will Bunch, which is a history of the lost vision of the GI Bill.   #LiberalArts #ChangingHigherEd  #HigherEdPodcast  Read the transcript online →   About Our Podcast Guest   Jeffrey Scheuer   Acclaimed author and freelance writer Jeffrey Scheuer is an information ecosystem expert. Top press professionals and elite educators have sought Scheuer's insight on media, politics, and — most recently — higher education. He's on a mission to illuminate for society what it means to think critically and live as an educated citizen in a thriving democracy. His new book "Inside the Liberal Arts: Critical Thinking and Citizenship" is the only book to systematically relate the liberal arts to thinking rationally and critically. In under 200 pages, "Inside the Liberal Arts" outlines the history, conceptual core, and critical democratic role of liberal education. Scheuer takes liberal arts educators, students, media, and consumers through an exploration of the role of higher education in democracy. Scheuer writes mainly about politics, media, history, and education. His first book, The Sound Bite Society (1999) was named a Choice “Outstanding Academic Title.” He is also the author of The Big Picture: Why Democracies Need Journalistic Excellence (2007). He has published essays, articles, reviews and commentary in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and some two dozen other daily newspapers, and has also published in Dissent, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Gettysburg Review, Potomac Review, Wilson Quarterly, Nieman Reports, Philosophy Now, Private Pilot, and elsewhere. He lives in pre-Civil War houses that he renovated in New York and West Tisbury, MA.   About the Host   Dr. Drumm McNaughton, the host of Changing Higher Ed®, is a consultant to higher ed institutions in the areas of governance, accreditation, strategy and change, and mergers. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com

Villanova University is creating career-ready graduates despite the current negative perception of higher ed that is partly fueled by students having difficulties finding jobs upon graduation. Part of this comes from approximately 94% of Villanova students being accepted into internships. Anyone can see these successes for themselves since the private Roman Catholic research institution shares what their alumni are actually saying and experiencing online.   In his latest podcast episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Associate Vice Provost for Career and Professional Development Kevin Grubb about how Villanova keeps student outcomes transparent, how transparency helps attract and retain students, how to involve the entire university system in this practice, how career skills are built into Villanova’s educational experience, and how Villanova’s internship program works and why it’s so successful.   Podcast Highlights   The University Learning Goals page on the Villanova website contains searchable student career outcome information from the past five years that can be sorted by college and major. This data updates annually from surveys where graduates share their career experiences upon graduating. In addition to asking if graduates have a job, where they work, and what their salary is, the surveys ask how successful graduates feel in their first job, if their current job will help them achieve their goals, if the Villanova experience prepared them for their career, to rate Villanova’s professional development (PD), and what Villanova could do differently. The University Learning Goals page helps the recruitment process by showing prospective students and their families what and how successful some career pathways are. Retention is improved since the results motivate and help students feel like they belong. Everything that goes on or informs the University Learning Goals page is shared with the admissions team to help with recruitment. The career and PD team also presents career outcomes and experiences to inform other departments of its findings and to get feedback from them. In addition, the career and PD team asks what other departments are hearing from students and how the career and PD team can help if they have questions. This culture is also instilled at the faculty level. Some Villanova schools and colleges offer a required class on career and PD. This includes first-years writing a resume, keeping in mind research opportunities, part-time jobs, or internships they might apply for in the future. These resumes are individually reviewed and spark a conversation between students, staff, and faculty. In addition, students are asked what they did during each experience, what skills they gained, what they liked, and what they didn’t like. This leads to more in-depth conversations on what’s important to them and what they want to do next. Students participate in mock interviews. This includes preparing for asynchronous interviews where students complete a pre-recorded asynchronous interview. Villanova also provides networking opportunities with employers, alums, and professionals within industries students are interested in. These are completed in low-stress environments where jobs or internships aren’t on the line. Villanova also has a subscription to LinkedIn Learning, so undergraduate and graduate students can quickly upskill at no cost. Internships are not required for most Villanova programs, but between 91-94% of students who apply intern once during their enrollment. About half of these students intern twice or more. Villanova typically encourages employers to pay interns.   #StudentServices #JobReady #HigherEd   Read the transcript →   About Our Podcast Guest Kevin Grubb Kevin Grubb is an internationally and nationally recognized expert on career services delivery in higher education. Kevin serves as Villanova University’s Associate Vice Provost for Career & Professional Development and has held multiple roles within Villanova’s Career Center over the last 13 years. In his current position, Kevin is responsible for the strategic direction of the University's career and professional development functions, leading cross-university task forces and spearheading institutional projects to enhance college-to-career success. Kevin’s expertise focuses on community-driven approaches to career education, a high-tech, high-touch approach, and prioritizes equitable access to career services, especially for those historically excluded from higher education.    Kevin’s expertise has been acknowledged by several organizations whose mission is to provide innovative career services and education about college student engagement. He has been named the “Rising Star” twice in his career, first in 2014 by the American College Personnel Association and second in 2015 by the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE). Kevin has also been invited to share insights about career development and outcomes by organizations such as LinkedIn and Strada Education Network. Additionally, he has held several leadership positions for non-profit organizations such as the NACE, the BIG EAST Conference Career Consortium, and Campus Philly.   About the Host  Dr. Drumm McNaughton is a consultant to higher education institutions and CEO of The Change Leader consulting firm. Drumm's focus is in the areas of governance, accreditation, strategy, change management, and mergers. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website at changinghighered.com.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com  

Higher ed can be better positioned to meet, enroll, retain, and help future generations of students successfully maneuver the ever-changing business world by embracing micro-credentials appropriately and programmatically. Micro-credentials are also money-making opportunities for colleges and universities that can help address deficits and fund other pursuits. Additionally, with digital credential platforms such as Credly reporting the issuance of industry and workforce credentials being up 83% since the pandemic, now is the time for higher ed presidents and decision-makers to begin thinking about micro-credentials seriously. In his latest podcast episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton discusses how higher ed can benefit from micro-credentialing and where to start with Matt Frank, director of technology evangelism and product marketing at Salesforce apps provider Blackthorn.io. In addition to breaking down what a micro-credential is, Matt discusses how micro-credentials meet where today’s and future generations are, how to identify the worth of micro-credentials, and the importance of perception when adopting micro-credentials that might not be aligned with what your institution is known for.   Highlights Micro-credentials are non-diploma programs that give learners practical knowledge and skills while providing progressive value as an individual in the labor market. They can be sponsored by associations, professional organizations, public and private industry partnerships, and even traditional universities. Micro-credentials enable learners to acquire specific skills or knowledge efficiently that professional organizations can use to retain or rescale employees. Micro-credentials can align with new technologies and help describe a partnership between, for example, a university and an industry at large. They allow students to take the learning journey they want and to design and manage what services they can provide through technology. Higher ed and employers can trust micro-credentials backed by professional organizations like the American Medical Association or the American Psychological Association that create standards of professionalism for their industries. But conversely, micro-credentials should be questioned if they come from an organization without industry trust or buy-in or that is purely motivated by profit. If the micro-credential is part of a public-private partnership, look at where their partnership started. The more time that was taken to incorporate the multiple voices of the university community and design the program, gives more value to the micro-credential. A program designed with the university's deans, faculty, and community engagement managers is also more valuable. It should have been a collaborative process without one body or another having the power to veto the final product. Also, question the value of a micreocredential if an external private organization dictated how to design it for the university. It’s worth the experimentation for a school to invest in at least a small part of a micro-credentialing program that they feel speaks to their strengths. Institutions that consider the external reviews from publications like the Chronicle of Higher Education that identify what specific colleges or universities are known for as opposed to what the institution feels they're known for can become more self-aware and invest in the areas where they see their core strength. Read the transcript → About Our Podcast Guest Matthew Frank, a Denver resident and avid music enthusiast, has one goal: to empower organizations with apps that delight and, simply put, ‘just work.’ After years of working for nonprofits and in higher education, Matthew became frustrated with the many disconnected legacy services that dominated those industries and fell backward into the world of SaaS technology. This led him to the Salesforce ecosystem, where he worked for multiple award-winning ISV partners focused on nonprofits, NGOs, associations, and higher ed. After working in the US ecosystem, Matthew moved to the UK, where he continued to serve NGOs & EDUs in EMEA and ANZ before returning to the US in 2020. He is currently with Blackthorn.io, an award-winning Salesforce.org Partner that has seen exponential growth and success since its founding in 2015.   About the Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton, host and consultant to higher ed institutions. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com #changinghighered #thechangeleader #higheredpodcast

College and university leaders can recover from the drop in international enrollment brought on by the pandemic and federal policies by establishing cost-effective overseas branch campuses in the Middle East and other areas. Although many other countries compete in this market, an increasing number of international students who can’t travel to the US would like to attend the same prestigious institutions at home.   In his latest podcast episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Dr. Olgun Cicek about how higher ed presidents and boards can provide their services abroad quicker, easier, and more effectively at minimum cost and effort. In addition, Cicek discusses how successful branch campuses must function, what to consider when choosing the right location and creating curricula, how much language plays a factor in the decision–making process, why cultural sensitivity training is crucial for faculty and administrative staff, and why to avoid online learning except for certifications and micro-credentials.   Highlights   Colleges and universities must ensure that their international branch campuses provide the same quality of services beyond the institution’s name, including the faculty, curriculum, qualifications, credentials, and reputation. These branches must receive two layers of accreditation, one that matches the U.S. campus and a second that aligns with the country where the branch is located. In addition, these branches must gain approval from the local authorities there.   After choosing the city to build the branch campus, student accessibility must be considered. The campus should also be in an area that seamlessly facilitates collaborations with various community organizations for research and development, internships, industry partnerships, and speaker events.   If the campus is located in an area where English is not a major language, an environment must be created where international students can feel comfortable communicating with each other and with fluent faculty and staff. Since locals appreciate it when foreigners know at least a few words, students and faculty should take extra courses or certifications before arriving. Language courses for international students and faculty members should also be available at branch campuses so faculty, staff, and students can truly interact with and understand the local culture and context.   Faculty and staff must adhere to local cultural sensitivities, rules, and expectations of the people. There are usually orientations for international faculty members and administrative staff to become familiarized with the local contacts, culture, and sensitivities. This includes understanding and appreciating spoken and nonverbal language, such as gestures and body language. Therefore, everything that a faculty or administrator plans to share with students should be screened and carefully chosen. There have been instances where branches have had to fire faculty mid-semester for offending students.   Gaining full awareness of cultural sensitivities on subjects, including gender, can impact curricula. Examples in textbooks, syllabi, notes, speeches, and recorded videos must be vetted. Some cultures also prefer not to be filmed, which can complicate online learning and collaboration.   Certain countries, including the Middle East and Türkiye, don’t recommend, accept, recognize, or respect online learning. So online degrees should be avoided at all costs. Moreover, students who receive online degrees don’t get the same opportunities as those who receive a traditional education. Online certificates and micro-credentials are possible, however. Part of the problem is that online education doesn’t fit into the European Qualifications Framework and won’t gain official recognition.    Read the transcript →    About Our Podcast Guest Dr. Olgun Cicek After completing his postgraduate education at the University of Surrey in the UK, he worked as an Instructor at Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Business Administration, in 1992. He completed his PhD at the same university and received the title of Assistant Professorship in 1998. In 2001, he moved abroad and worked in different countries for 21 years (N.Cyprus, Dubai, Singapore, Switzerland, Türkiye, UK, and USA) in public and private universities with various tasks and projects, assuming different roles ranging from Head of Department to Vice-Rector. During this time abroad, he received the title of Associate Professor in Dubai in 2005 and Full Professor in the TRNC in 2013. He also served as a Member of the Executive Board of the YODAK (Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation, and Coordination Council) in N. Cyprus between 2014-2022. Currently, he is an elected Board Member of INQAAHE (International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education), Vice President of CEENQA (Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education), also Vice President of IQA (Association of Quality Assurance Agencies of the Islamic World). Additionally, he has been an elected member of the CHEA-CIQG (Council for Higher Education Accreditation) International Advisory Council in the USA since 2022 and Accreditation Committee member of the British Accreditation Council (BAC) in the UK since 2020. He is an affiliate of ECA (European Consortium for Accreditation in Germany, He also serves as an Honorary President of ECLBS (European Council of Leading Business Schools), a reviewer/ evaluator for many institutional and program accreditation organizations in America, Europe, Middle East, and Far East (QAA, NVAO, AQAS, OCQAS, etc.), and an external evaluator and advisor for TKTA and IAAR. As of April 1st, 2022, after 21 years, he was reassigned to his previous position at Dokuz Eylül University as the International Relations Coordinator under the Rectorate. He has been appointed as an international advisor to THEQC since June 2022.   About the Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton, host, and consultant to higher ed institutions. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com #HigherEducation #TheChangeLeader #StudentEnrollment

Higher ed leaders looking to not only expand their student population to include underrepresented communities but to ensure they succeed can actually replicate a comprehensive program from the University of Cambridge’s Lucy Cavendish College in the UK. Part of the larger Cambridge system that once depended largely on legacy admissions from private schools for decades, Lucy Cavendish now admits 90% of its freshmen class from 180 public high schools across the country.   In this podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton draws from his knowledge of U.S. colleges and universities to learn about key processes and procedures from Lucy Cavendish College President Dr. Madeleine Atkins that can be emulated here in the States. Dr. Atkins discusses how the college identifies students who wouldn’t normally attend Lucy Cavendish, drives these students’ academic achievement and academic attainment, helps potential freshmen apply at top universities and prepare for mandatory entrance tests, and enrolls them in specialized orientation programs and more robust versions of the U.S.’s affinity groups that strengthen these students’ sense of belonging.   Highlights   Lucy Cavendish’s Academic Attainment Program first identifies high schools in socio-economic disadvantaged and minority ethnic communities that don't send pupils to the UK’s top universities. Next, college team members work with those schools’ teachers and counselors to understand the backgrounds and lives of these students to learn how they can help these schools improve these students’ grades. Because most of these students can’t access traditional higher ed outreach programs, the college provides free online workshops every fortnight with academic subject teachers who understand both the high school curriculum and university demands. Through this program, prospective students meet like-minded peers with similar backgrounds, creating a sense of belonging. Roundabout Now, a boot camp program similar to U.S. affinity groups, provides career guidance and helps identify which universities and courses resonate with students’ ambitions. In the summer, students create the most competitive college application that will attract the top universities. In addition to learning how to submit critical documents, these summer boot camps help students prepare for tests that some top universities require before the interview process. Staff and faculty discuss these interviews and what interviewers are looking for, and they perform practice interviews. In addition to typical orientation, Bridging Week, a pre-orientation program designed to assist these students, reinforces the idea that they are working at the level their top university requires and provides group teaching sessions where students write essays or solve problem sheets and receive feedback. Bridging Week also provides additional networking opportunities and helps communicate where certain places are on campus so they can feel empowered to make their university work for them.   Read the Podcast Transcript →   About Our Podcast Guest Dr. Madeleine Atkins  Madeleine’s background includes reading Law and History as an undergraduate at Cambridge, teaching in a large comprehensive school in Huntingdon, and completing a Ph.D. and post-doctoral research contracts at the University of Nottingham. Following various senior positions at Newcastle University, including Pro-Vice-Chancellor, she was Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University between 2004 and 2013. Madeleine then joined the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) as its Chief Executive in January 2014, retaining that post until March 2018.   About Our Podcast Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton, host and consultant to higher ed institutions. To find out more about his services and read other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/. The Change Leader’s Social Media Links §  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ §  Twitter: @thechangeldr §  Email: podcast@changinghighered.com   #changinghighered #thechangeleader #higheredpodcast

Presidents and other higher ed leaders that want their institution to grow and sustain that growth can easily replicate Southeastern University (SEU)’s success. SEU grew from 2,200 to over 10,000 students and expanded to more than 200 campuses worldwide despite having no president for two years, resulting in a drop in enrollment that almost bankrupted the university. In this podcast,  Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with SEU’s president, Dr. Kent Ingle, about how using “Framework Leadership,” a holistic systems thinking and innovative approach to leadership, saved, stabilized, and helped his university grow over the last 12 years. Dr. Ingle discusses the importance of appreciative inquiry and the sigmoid curve’s positive effect on organizational growth and health, how to align an entire system, and what steps he took to cut the cost of degree programs by two-thirds and help students graduate debt-free. Podcast Highlights Framework leadership involves listening and learning everything that you can about a college or university to prepare the right vision so that everyone can excel and go to levels they've never been before. In his book Good to Great, Author Jim Collins writes on organizational leadership, saying, “You can never know the potential of an organization until you know the potential of the people.” Appreciative inquiry involves asking questions like “Where would you like the college or university to be in the next five years.” These questions avoid identifying with what’s wrong with an institution and create a desire to dream and focus on what the future could look like while setting the pace for achieving the institution’s mission and vision. Appreciative inquiry also differentiates the college or university by celebrating the people’s uniqueness, experiences, gifts, talents, and abilities. This will allow an institution to do what others can’t. Campuswide alignment creates an environment that fosters a sense of flow, avoids the need for managing, and allows institutions to change and adapt more quickly. To develop strong alignment, build a team of people with diverse gifts, viewpoints, abilities, temperaments, and backgrounds. Breakthroughs depend on creativity, intuitiveness, and relentless questioning of assumptions. A diverse team united by a common person will naturally align the focus on the organization’s long-term mission. Take the time to celebrate people who achieve what the institution needs. This creates continual energy and excitement to reach new milestones. The visionary framework that helped SEU address enrollment, systems development, governance, and cultural issues features three components: Principles that will help lead to change, principles that create values like what the organization should look like, and the actual strategy to accomplish growth. SEU’s framing system involves listening, auditing the context, clarifying the goals, and aligning the vision. Avoid a top-down approach to this system since involving everyone in the process will lead to them full-heartedly supporting the mission and change. The sigmoid curve represents organizational growth and health, from the birth of an organization to the climb of growth. The climb leads to challenges, and working through them creates “a new curve.” Institutions need to create a new curve to avoid the mistake of failing to stop to reflect on where they are. Unfortunately, many institutions don’t stop and reflect since they are growing. But failing to create a new curve even at the height of great success can lead to plateauing and decline. Every year, SEU’s leadership team or cabinet has “a new curve retreat.” Participating VPs have already worked with their downline and gone through the framing process where they have listened. Participants discuss what they hear and learn, the context, clarification, alignment process, and what’s next. The group always focuses on creating new curves for curriculum development, co-curricular, and experiential education to remain healthy and strong, thus avoiding plateauing and declining. To increase accessibility and affordability, SEU never takes a cookie-cutter approach with its more than 200 campuses nationwide. Instead, they address each campus’ unique educational needs, allowing SEU to cut the cost of degree programs by two-thirds and help students graduate debt-free.   Read the podcast transcript →   About Our Podcast Guest Dr. Kent Ingle serves as the 15th president of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. Before becoming SEU’s president in 2011, Dr. Ingle held leadership positions in higher education and the nonprofit sector. He is an expert in leading turnaround organizations and led teams through transformational change in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle. Prior to entering professional ministry, Dr. Ingle spent 10 years as a television sports anchor for NBC and CBS. He covered many professional sports teams and interviewed several notable athletes in the professional sports world, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pete Rose, Muhammad Ali, and Carl Lewis. During his tenure, SEU’s enrollment has grown from approximately 2,400 students to over 10,000 students. Under his leadership, the university has been recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education as the fourth fastest-growing private nonprofit master’s institution in the nation. Dr. Ingle has pioneered an innovative education model, through which over 200 partner site campuses have been added to the SEU Network, offering students affordable and accessible education where they are. Dr. Ingle is the author of several books and the creator of the Framework Leadership podcast. He is also a frequent columnist for Fox News and Newsmax. He has appeared on a number of national news programs, including Fox & Friends, CBSN and CNN. About Our Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton, consultant to higher ed institutions and CEO of The Chang Leader consulting firm. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/. The Change Leader’s Social Media Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com Keywords: #LeadershipFramework #HigherEdGrowth #HigherEducation

College and university leaders who understand and implement the customer lifecycle model into their processes and procedures can boost enrollment numbers at their institutions despite the ongoing trend in higher education. In his latest podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton explores how higher ed leaders can follow the seven steps of this particular business model with Modern Campus’ Senior Director of Strategic Insights Amrit Ahluwalia, who also serves as editor-in-chief of The EvoLLLution, an online newspaper focused on nontraditional higher education and transforming the post-secondary marketplace. Drawing from his experience of working with more than 2,500 leaders at various colleges and universities across the US., Amrit discusses the most effective ways in which schools can engage with students and alumni and how to define specific tactics and priorities that will improve enrollment and retention. Podcast Highlights ·       The six stages of the customer lifecycle are attract, engage, convert, retain, loyalty, and nurture and grow. The “attract” phase makes people aware of your institution. “Engage” provides them with the information they need to make the right buying decision for them. “Convert” gets them from prospect to customer. “Retain” keeps that individual through their buying process. “Loyalty” represents when you build and foster a relationship with that individual. “Nurture and grow” expands the nature of your relationship with that individual beyond what you have today. ·       “Attract” is about how the customer is looking for a solution to solve a problem. So, the institution has an opportunity to position itself as a solution provider. This comes down to identifying your communication strategy and rating the effectiveness of your website design, for example, how easy it is to find the right thing at the right time on the website to move forward. Your SEO strategy has to be dialed in, and the program mix has to be right for the learners you're trying to serve. This requires understanding who your learners are, what they like about the institution, and what needs to change. These are the core ways that you can define your target audience. Higher ed has spent too long trying to be Harvard that there's a fair number of institutions that have lost sight of what makes them unique, interesting, special, and valuable. ·       At “engage,” your prospective customers have been on your website and are starting to sift through it to find materials that meet their needs. The majority of students enroll in a post-secondary program because they have specific career outcomes in mind. How are you communicating those career outcomes from a program page perspective? Provide possible salaries that students can earn in their area and tee up relationships with employers. That kind of messaging and visibility will make a massive impact on the students likely to continue onto the next step, which is “convert.” ·       At “convert,” the individual decides they’ll go through the registration process. There are things that this student must do to adequately apply for the program. Have your enrollment management department and applications department go through an exercise to define every single step. For every single question that you ask these students, ask yourself at every stage, “Is this a piece of information we need? Or is this a piece of information we already have?” If you're coming from the noncredit or continuing ed world, simplify. How simple can or should you make it? How easy are you making it for that individual to provide exactly the information they need to share and no more? How easy are you making it for them to pay? Are you accepting multiple payment types? Are you legally allowed to take credit card payments? ·       At “retention,” you assume that the individual has completed the credential that they enrolled for. The involvement of faculty in the enrollment and retention process is critical. Most of the time, when alumni think back about their college experience, they remember the relationship that they had with a professor or multiple professors. But higher ed has unfortunately created an environment that does not necessarily reward faculty for their capacity to develop and maintain relationships with students. Some schools have, like Arizona State, with its vertical research track, vertical teaching track, and continuing education lifelong learning track. Create a situation where faculty members who are oriented to teaching and want that to be their profession can do that and can be rewarded for it. ·       “Loyalty” is executed on the back of retention. Loyalty is the exemplification of the relationship you've developed with the individual by their tendency to make another purchase. In higher ed, the metrics for this are whether the individual returned for a post-baccalaureate certificate, enrolled in a professional certification workshop, came back for some kind of upskilling rescaling program, and meaningfully reengaged with the institution. “Loyalty” should not be based on fundraising. The higher ed fundraising model is broken since it essentially involves asking graduates to donate because they graduated. Higher ed needs to treat students like consumers and base their relationship with them on teaching and learning. Facilitate greater access to ongoing learning for alumni in the execution of that enrollment. ·       To “nurture” and “grow,” higher ed needs to address the complexity of their back ends. Everyone has their own systems running, and it's very difficult for information to pass from system to system. Alumni who want to reenroll at their alma mater for ongoing education should not have to go through another 30-step registration process. Start by creating tighter relationships between continuing education, the main campus, and alumni relations. Create consistent and high-quality credentialing frameworks that clearly define what a badge is, what a competency is, what a micro-credential is, and what a certificate is. Then make the information that transfers between all these various systems seamless to create a more streamlined experience for students.   About Our Podcast Guest  Amrit Ahluwalia is the Editor in Chief of The EvoLLLution, the online newspaper developed by Modern Campus to create a conversation hub focused on non-traditional higher education and the transforming postsecondary marketplace. Ahluwalia was part of the team that conceived of and launched The EvoLLLution. The EvoLLLution, which launched in January 2012, serves over 2,000 contributors and attracts approximately 60,000 monthly visitors. The site publishes articles and interviews by some of the industry’s leading thinkers at every level—from presidents and provosts to deans and directors to educators and students to employers and government officials and everyone in between—from across the United States and around the world. Ahluwalia works personally with every contributor at The EvoLLLution to produce the content that has supported the site’s rise to becoming the top resource for non-traditional higher education. He also serves as Senior Director for Content at Modern Campus, ensuring thought leadership assets align with industry trends. He regularly speaks on topics related to the changing higher education environment at conferences across Canada and the United States, and advises college and university leaders to help frame the strategic visions for their institutions. Ahluwalia earned his BA (Honors) in Political Studies from Queen’s University and his MA in International Politics from McMaster University. He lives in London, Ontario.   Read the Podcast Transcript    About the Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton, host and consultant to higher ed institutions. To find out more about his services and read other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm’s website, https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader’s Social Media Links ●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ ●      Twitter: @thechangeldr ●      Email: podcast@changinghighered.com Keywords: #studentlifecycle #highereducation #studentenrollment