Changing Higher Ed

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

A recent Dear Colleague letter that addresses the Department of Education’s upcoming expansion of a third-party service regulation will likely impact nearly all higher ed institutions that contract with a vendor to use their services and programs. The original rule was designed to monitor contracted companies that provide colleges and universities with services to manage various aspects of Federal Student Aid. In his latest podcast episode,  Dr. Drumm McNaughton discusses the recent Dear Colleague letter and the upcoming regulation expansion with Michael Goldstein, Managing Director of Tyton Partners’ Center for Higher Education Transformation.  Mike talks about: Why the Department penned the letter and what it says. What the Department’s position is on the regulation it’s expanding. What colleges and universities will likely be impacted by the implementation of this expanded rule. How it will likely affect the working relationship between institutions and third-party servicers. How higher ed has been reacting to the letter. What will likely happen as a result.   Podcast Highlights The Dear Colleague says that the Department of Education will have the authority to look at the contracts and economic relationships between institutions and enterprises that provide them with services, including online program managers. This will require them to deliver detailed information about their finances to the Department. Based on laws and regulations, the Department will also be immune from any type of congressional review and from being challenged in the courts. The Department believes it’s responsible for ensuring that the Federal financial aid monies is being properly used, and thus are examining transactions between institutions and these enterprises. But it has grabbed hold of a third-party service or regulation, which was intended for entities that actually put their fingers on the federal money. The Department of Education was prompted to publish the Dear Colleague letter because the GAO, the Inspector General, and various congressional oversight committees have said the Department doesn’t fully understand this relationship between institutions and the enterprises that provide them with third-party services. The Department issued this Dear Colleague letter on February 28. It initially gave higher ed two weeks to comment on it, but the comment period was extended to March 30. The Department also moved back the implementation date from May 1 to September 1. The Department also published an announcement saying that it is going to initiate a Negotiated Rulemaking process that will include a comprehensive review of multiple regulations, including regulations that involve the oversight of entities that are providing services to institutions. The Department will initiate this over the next six to eight months, starting in late spring. These regulations will likely not go into effect until July 1, 2024, at the earliest. Negotiated Rulemaking enables the Department to implement regulations, whereas a Dear Colleague letter is an opinion that can be rescinded the day after it was issued and by the next administration. The Department is likely attempting a regulatory proceeding because, if there is a change, it will have effectively changed the rules. And by the time there is another administration, it will have triggered a process that cannot easily be reversed if the Department has promulgated a rule, even though it has not necessarily gone into effect. With a few minor exceptions, every higher ed organization, including those usually at odds with each other, like the American Council on Education and the US Chamber of Commerce, have united by saying that the Dear Colleague position is wrong. More than just institutions that use third-party or online services will be affected. Essentially everything short of janitorial services will or may fall under these rules, including LMS or any online program delivery software that is “rented” by an institution. This will also likely prevent institutions and those entities that work with institutions from actually being able to work together. The Department has likely self-sabotaged itself by essentially saying that companies that are normally subject to the foreign exclusion regulation no longer have to comply since the Department does not have that authority.   #DearColleague #HigherEducation #HigherEdPodcast About the Podcast Guest Mike Goldstein Mike Goldstein has a long history of close engagement with higher education.  He was the founding Director of New York City Urban Corps, the nation’s first large-scale student intern program designed to support access for less affluent students through the use of the Federal Work Study Program.  He went on to lead a Ford Foundation-supported effort to establish similar programs in cities across the U.S.  He returned to New York City government as Assistant City Administrator and Director of University Relations.  From there, Mike joined the then-new University of Illinois Chicago campus as Associate Vice Chancellor for Urban Affairs and Associate Professor of Urban Sciences.  In 1978 Mike joined the Washington, DC law firm of Dow Lohnes to establish a new legal practice focusing broadly on issues confronting higher education.   By 2014 when his firm merged with the global law firm Cooley LLP, the higher education practice he headed was the largest and one of the highest regarded in the country.  Mike has been a pioneer in the development of alternative mechanisms and institutional structures for the delivery of high-quality postsecondary education, including helping to accomplish substantial regulatory reforms that made telecommunicated and then online learning broadly available.  He is the recipient of the WCET Richard Jonsen Award, CAEL’s Morris Keeton Ward, the President’s Medal from Excelsior College, and USDLA’s Distance Learning Hall of Fame Award, as well as an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Fielding Graduate University for his contributions to the field of adult learning.  He is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law, and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.  He and his spouse Jinny, an education and media consultant and former head of education for the Public Broadcasting Service, live in Washington, DC.   Read the podcast transcript →   About the 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  

In stark contrast to prevailing trends in higher education, colleges and universities have or are boosting their enrollment, retention, and graduation rates by improving their students’ sense of belonging, student support services, student-faculty relationships, and career readiness programs. In this podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton explores how higher ed leaders can follow these actionable steps with CEO Elliot Felix of Brightspot Strategy, a consultancy focusing on attracting and retaining students. Elliot shares these impressive findings based on his experiences with the 110 schools he’s partnered with over the last 12 years. These experiences and national research studies revealed that students who feel like they belong on campus are about 40% more likely to continue after their freshmen year. Additionally, students who had an encouraging mentor or participated in an internship are twice as likely to find meaningful, engaging work after graduation. They believe that college is worth the cost. #HigherEdEnrollment #StudentSupport #HigherEdPodcast Podcast Highlights To understand the importance of a student’s sense of belonging, higher ed leaders are encouraged to read Dr. Terrell Strayhorn’s book College Students’ Sense of Belonging. This book posits that if students feel they matter, are cared for, and are a part of something, their experiences will reinforce their experiences positively. Higher ed can instill a sense of belonging in students through spaces. Take a multifaceted approach by creating identity and affinity centers for underserved communities such as LGBTQ+, first-gen, student veterans, and parents. Also important are common spaces like student unions, libraries, and their events and programs, like student support organizations, and peer-to-peer relationships and service delivery. Colleges and universities already offer student support, but students and parents either aren’t aware of them, aren’t comfortable using them, or these programs are offered at the wrong time. Higher ed institutions need to find ways to integrate this support and make it more visible, accessible, and normalized. Connect career readiness opportunities to coursework. Notable examples include Johns Hopkins’ Imagine Center, where career planning, life design, academic planning, and academic advising are all integrated into one place. At CUNY, Guttman Community College’s “Ethnographies of Work” class has students shadow employees. Tulane, Stanford, and ASU also have offerings in life design. Provide digital and in-person support in an integrated, coordinated way through one-stop shops, for example. Create spaces that connect separated programs and services.   Download the transcript PDF →   Our Podcast Guest: Elliot Felix Elliot Felix is an author, speaker, teacher, father, and consultant to more than a hundred colleges and universities. He uses his background in design to make college work for all students by improving the spaces they learn and live in, the support services they rely on, and the technology they use. Over the last 20 years, he has spoken at SxSW Edu, taught courses on innovation, and worked with top universities like Carnegie Mellon, MIT, NYU, NC State, and the University of Virginia. Brightspot Strategy, the education consulting company he founded in 2011, was acquired by Buro Happold in 2020 and has improved the experience of more than 1,000,000 students. You can find his work in Fast Company, Forbes, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His book How to Get the Most Out of College was published in January 2022 by Alinea Learning. He lives in Minneapolis with his son Theo, daughter Nora, and wife Liz. Link to Transcript 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  

Rural-serving institutions (RSIs) face many more unique challenges than most urban schools and persist, comprising more than 25% of all U.S. colleges and universities. Although inherently different, every higher ed institution can learn from the innovative best practices RSIs have been forced to adopt to help positively impact their enrollment and more. To understand what RSIs can teach higher ed as a whole, Dr. Drumm McNaughton discusses the misconceptions and essential roles these institutions have in their communities with Executive Director Dr. Andrew Koricich of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, a research collaborative and resource hub that has completed the insurmountable task of defining what rural-serving institutions are. Andrew explains how RSIs’ unique experiences can help: Identify the role higher ed should adopt instead of becoming a for-profit organization. The types of prospective students higher ed needs to target. How board members should be appointed. Why higher ed must avoid pursuing growth for the sake of growth. How to subset rising costs with remote learning and course selection. The type of mindset that boards should look for when appointing a president or chancellor. #HigherEducation #RuralServingInstitutions #HigherEdPodcast Podcast Highlights RSIs are their communities’ primary or only post-secondary education access point and are their most critical employer by launching businesses and consuming most of their goods and services. Therefore, RSIs are tied to their community’s focused industry and must remain targeted. Public RSIs are more dependent on state appropriations but receive fewer appropriations per student because state funding metrics focus on enrollment growth, which is more constrained. In addition, RSIs receive fewer donations and competitive federal grants because reviewers from federal agencies don't understand them. Systems or legislatures usually choose to close or merge RSIs because they carry less political weight and serve fewer students even though fewer people are in their community. These structural deficits realize that higher ed appoints board members incorrectly. Appointing too many alumni members complicates the board’s ability to view the institution objectively. Meanwhile, political appointees only view their schools as political tools. Boards must also have more financial oversight by alerting presidents or chancellors to financial problems before they reach the legislature. Higher ed needs to move away from the mentality of getting the maximum return possible since many RSIs usually can’t meet these conditions because they enroll fewer students. RSIs’ mission of providing more accessibility to underserved students proves that higher ed needs to rethink which students they should serve, like underrepresented minorities and adults who never started post-secondary education or who started but dropped out. Higher ed cannot adopt the mentality of bigger is better since RSIs are at the mercy of the rise and fall of their populations. Instead, higher ed needs to identify what’s sustainable for each institution rather than penalizing RSIs for something out of their control. To help reduce costs, a significant role of boards and administrators includes identifying what programs are no longer by realizing if they align with local industries, for example. But they must stay proactive and transparent. Also, don’t fully disregard liberal arts education since students still need a well-rounded education. Boards can’t be proactive if they appoint presidents who view their institution as a stepping stone. Instead, appoint presidents who value their mission, their students, and what they’re capable of. Visit our website to read the full transcript of this podcast About Our Podcast Guest Dr. Andrew Koricich Dr. Andrew Koricich is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges (ARRC) and an Associate Professor of Higher Education at Appalachian State University. Influenced by his experiences growing up in a rural Pennsylvania town, Dr. Koricich’s research interests focus primarily on rural issues in postsecondary education, with a particular emphasis on rural-serving postsecondary institutions and the communities they serve. His work has been published in numerous journal articles, book chapters, and research reports and featured in a range of media outlets, including Politico, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The Daily Yonder. Dr. Koricich and his team have received generous funding from The Joyce Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and Ascendium Education Group. He recently led a project to develop a data-driven metric for identifying rural-serving institutions (RSIs), and he has been invited to speak by a number of organizations, including the American Association of State Colleges & Universities, National Scholarship Providers Association, and the Oregon Community College Association. Dr. Koricich earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education and a B.S. in Information Sciences & Technology from Pennsylvania State University, and an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the faculty at ASU, he was a faculty member at Texas Tech, and prior to working in academia, Dr. Koricich spent several years as a software development manager at a large insurance company prior to his career in academia. About Our Podcast 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

Aside from the obvious importance of wanting to improve diversity and inclusiveness in higher ed, the benefits that businesses experience after promoting or hiring more women into leadership positions and the data that proves the positive impact female faculty have on teaching and learning should be enough to convince college and university leaders on how women can transform their campuses for the better. Businesses note a boost in problem-solving, improved business decisions, and impressive risk aversion with more female representation and leadership. Meanwhile, studies show that women in the classroom positively impact young female students without negatively affecting their male counterparts. However, only about 33% of women are full-tenured professors in higher ed, a 2020 American Association of University Professors study found.  Meanwhile, the number of female faculty, senior faculty, and administrators constantly fails to reflect the steady rise of female students over the past 25 years. To understand these trends, Dr. Drumm McNaughton discusses the benefits of women and minority leadership in higher ed with CEO Elissa Sangster of the Forté Foundation, a nonprofit that helps women thrive as leaders and that has increased the percentage of women in MBA programs at universities from 25% to 42%. Elissa tackles the benefits of leadership and thought diversity, transforming boards to attract more diverse leadership and students, the steps to build a more supportive atmosphere for women and minorities in leadership positions, how to attain 50/50 representation in the classroom, and best practices higher ed can emulate to support women and minority leadership. Podcast Highlights Diversifying the board will attract more women and people of color and help address or even ask the right questions that need answers. To diversify, change recruiting locations if those places have only produced the same type of applicants. Ensure to include other sources for that talent. Look for professionals with different opinions and are comfortable pushing back. Recruit more than one member from each demographic, so they have power, feel they can push back, and that the institution wants genuine change. To reach 50/50 representation in faculty, ensure that the language in job descriptions reflects words and meanings that appeal to both men and women. Tamper down on traditionally interesting language to men versus women, especially aggressive or competitive speech. Many websites provide tips on how to make a gender-neutral job description, and various organizations provide advice or consulting. Look at preexisting candidate support systems. For women tenure-track faculty, use language like “We know this is when you have many things going on in your life. Therefore, we will give you access to additional teaching assistants or graduate assistants while you're writing your research.” Department chairs or leadership team members who sponsor faculty must physically go into the classroom and be that representative and voice for women and minority faculty. When they're not there to defend themselves, defend their research and the extra work they do as a faculty member. Create formal sponsor relationships for these candidates. Develop a promotion plan that includes professional development tailored for women and minorities. Research how previous faculty members have performed to identify if underrepresented faculty members are succeeding and achieving at the same rate as others. If not, identify their roadblocks and listen to these faculty members. Allow women and minorities to enroll in professional development and executive education courses taught across campus. Create gender equity groups where men and women talk about what implicit bias feels and looks like and how it plays out in their personal and professional lives. Study classrooms and ask how faculty are diversifying the conversation, representing speakers and their stories when they share their business experiences, thinking about whom they call on or if they call on those who look or think like them, considering different or contrary opinions, and asking for opinions from students who rarely participate. Our Podcast Guest Elissa Sangster serves as CEO of Forté and brings to the role extensive knowledge of issues affecting women's abilities to seek, prepare for and attain business leadership positions, drawn from her prior experience as Assistant Dean and Director of the MBA Program at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. There she oversaw all activities related to the full-time McCombs MBA program, including marketing, admissions, student services, and alumni relations. Before McCombs, Elissa was Assistant Director of the MBA Program at Texas A&M University’s Mays School of Business. Elissa currently serves as Treasurer and Board Member for the Thirty Percent Coalition. She is the past Chair of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Annual Industry Conference and formerly served as Chair of MBA Student Services Professionals (MBA SSP). Elissa sits on the board of Forté as an ex-officio member. She enjoys reading, running, cooking, and Aggie football. She lives in San Antonio with her husband, Jeremy, and their daughter, Anna Leigh. Elissa received her MBA and her B.A. in English from Texas A&M University. Elissa Sangster on LinkedIn → Download the podcast transcript 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 Keywords: #DEIinHigherEd #WomeninHigherEd #HigherEducation