China v. U.S.A. rivalry could impact higher education

The President of the National University of Singapore warned that the tensions between China and the U.S.A. could impact higher education in Asia. The rivalry between the two super-powers could disrupt research and other collaboration as smaller countries in Asia navigate a path that allows for continuing relations with the two competitors.

While warning of broader problems throughout Asia, the NUS President continues to focus on making sure that his institution is in the best possible position. Concerns for stability and preeminence as an elite institution harken back to the controversy of NUS parting ways with Yale University. The decision was criticized by some as arbitrary and ill-timed but consideration was evidently underway further back than most realized. NUS reported that expansion of curriculum beyond just those enrolled in the Yale-partnered program was the objective. This expansion is underway as well as other innovations such as offering a grade-free year (similar to MIT's first-year strategy). The grade-free year allows students to explore more diverse subjects without the threat of failure while at the same time encouraging students to double-major.

U.S. institutions that have counted on significant enrollment of Chinese students face significant challenges left from the pandemic. As travel restrictions are lifted, recruiters will find changing expectations from prospective Chinese students and families. Shifting federal policies are part of the problem but more important is the loss of confidence in the U.S. as a desirable destination. Recent policy changes invalidating online programs for Chinese students left many of them scrambling for in-person options, which could result in a boost in students from China studying in many other countries.

William C. Kirby's Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China raises important questions about the potential for China to overtake the primacy of U.S.A. higher education. If the U.S.A. wants to maintain world-wide preeminence it must understand that: institutions can improve and/or decline rapidly (so watch out!), sustained ambition is essential, and elite education and national power and world leadership are engaged in a powerful dialectic.

One measure of China's viability in the international higher education world is its ability to attract scholars who are willing to serve as repatriated Chinese or expatriate intellectuals. China is failing this test thus far. The Young Thousand Talents initiative was designed to  draw scholars particularly in STEM fields to China, resulting in the return of many Chinese who studied abroad and did not return to China but stayed in the U.S.A. or other countries to pursue their careers. Chinese authorities claim that YTT is working but others suggest that improvement of the research infrastructure needs to occur first.

In addition to China's inability to attract scholars, U.S. institutions that previously struck agreements to offer branch programs in China are now experiencing more headwinds. The challenges of operating in China is causing institutions such as Duke University to carefully consider whether or not they will conintue.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 raises academic questions

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 raised academic freedom concerns related to Qatar's Education City American branch programs. Geoff Harkness, who formerly served in a postdoctoral teaching role for Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University in Qatar, commented "The World Cup is a branding opportunity of a lifetime for a country like Qatar... Education, and Education City in particular, is a big part of the image that Qatar is trying to project to the world, using the World Cup as a platform to do so." Harkness claimed he left his teaching roles in 2013 partially due to concerns over academic freedom.

Craig LaMay, who taught and served for a time as the Dean of Northwestern's program, said that he was once ordered to cancel a student event that included a gay performer. As a result, he "remained unconvinced and uncertain about the country's prospects as a higher education destination, noting that a lot of institutions were rethinking the value of international campuses more widely, not just in Qatar."

Another Carnegie Mellon University faculty member, David Busch, reflected on his two years at the Qatar campus. His essay referenced F. Scott Fitzgerald's assertion in "The Crack-Up" that "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." He went on to describe asking students in his class to debate the historical record of race in the U.S.A. and a current pressing public policy issue. The students explored the same issues related to Qatar on a second day. The example was used to demonstrate Fitzgerald's thesis that first-rate intelligence could see both the negative and positive aspects of the two governments. Busch assessed the debate about the U.S.A. as effective but he was disappointed in the defensiveness he observed when it came to Qatar, supporting the Fitzgerald thesis in one case but not in the other. When exploring whether or not teaching in Qatar was effective or defensible, Busch cited Fitzgerald again - "I must hold in balance the sense of the futility of effort... and the sense of the necessity to struggle."

Having worked for Qatar Foundation and interacted with faculty and students of branch programs on a regular basis from 2007-14, I recognize the tensions that Harkness and LaMay expressed. I saw the tensions somewhat differently as a result of my working directly with QF and Qatari colleagues where faculty working for the branches have much less contact with the real people and leaders of the country. My view is that significant change has been, and continues to be, underway. A deep encounter of cultural perspectives like that of U.S.A. academic institutions in an Islamic monarchy is destined to have points of conflict on everything from recognition of LGBTQ+ rights to free speech and more. The point for me was and continues to be that the change process is underway and that it requires adaptive responses among everyone and every institution involved.

Social media for academics

The controversy over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter has caused many academics and others to withdraw from, or cancel, their subscriptions. I've struggled with what to do, recognizing that I get a lot of my early notifications on world issues through my Twitter feed. Even though I have few followers and most of my posts are ignored, I remain a Twitter subscriber for now. Interestingly enough, the only example where I get likes or reposts is if I post on Pete Buttigieg. He must have an amazingly attentive social media team!

Insider Higher Education's Ray Shroeder offered perspective on social media presence that helped me look at which platforms are worth retaining and others to consider. Some of the dispersion of academic Twitter usage is going to Mastodon but other platforms may emerge. Considering Twitter's instability, LinkedIn is apparently expanding beyond job future networking. I only sporadically use LinkedIn and, as with any social media, consistent promotion and amplification is required in order to be anything close to an influencer. The other platform he noted was Blogger, which I began using in 2005 and through which I maintain two blogs - Pursuing Leadership by Denny and this Global Student Affairs blog. My followers are few in number and it is questionable how useful my involvement is but I stick with it in order to stay contemporary.

A major question related to social media is whether my participation is about gathering information or offering my views and influencing thinking. I would love to know what you're thinking. Please let me know where you are headed in your social media. Also, let me know if you see value in any of my posts on Blogger, Twitter, or LinkedIn. My blogs were unfortunately dominated by foreign intrusion several years ago so I closed down comments. The other two platforms are still readily available for likes and comments.

Anti-corruption major and COVID protests in Chinese universities

Sixteen universities in China are rolling out a new major in anti-corruption. The new undergraduate focus is a response to "China's need for more skilled graduates to root out administrative misconduct." However, some "raised concerns about the future employability of students majoring in the topic and their retention in the public sector."

The question that immediately comes to mind is how corruption is defined and the potential that it might even include views or actions that challenge communist ideology. Reducing corruption in private and public behavior is important in all countries but how that is defined is critical.

As the focus on corruption gains traction, Chinese higher education is facing protests that mirror the national push-back on COVID restrictions. Blank sheets of paper have become the symbol of protest, due to Chinese citizens fear of reprisal for voicing their views. The implications for U.S.A. study abroad and branch programs or campuses in China are significant.

Russian education - moving toward indoctrination?

Is the new required course design for Russian higher education, "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood," just another course or an example of increasing attempts to indoctrinate? The creators of the course are stalwart Putin and state supporters. The ideological bent of the course has caused some academics to fear encroachment into academic freedom but others simply view the course as a hurdle that students will be able to circumvent through cheating and apathy. Previous attempts at state brainwashing improved "students' skill at cheating and thwarting attendance monitors," commented an alumna of Saint Petersburg State University who subsequently completed the master's program in international education at the University of Oxford.

Russia and China have both attempted to move up in the world rankings of academic institutions, primarily by supporting research and placement of academic articles in prestigious journals. The problem is that academic substance and positive student outcomes are related to a broader array of opportunity - student engagement, dialogue across difference, and critical thinking as examples. Will Russian and Chinese educators eventually recognize that the path to academic excellence isn't just in the research rankings but also the experience of students?

2022-23 enrollment and signs of 2023-24

I previously offered a cumulative post of the 2022-23 enrollment outlook. Early figures painted a picture of continued decline of enrollment at U.S.A. institutions of 1.1%. The National Student Clearinghouse warned, "Our biggest concern is that we aren't seeing a huge upsurge back in freshman enrollment at four-year institutions. So those two lost years of high school graduates who didn't enroll in fall 2020 or fall 2021, there's not a lot of evidence of them coming back." A portion of the COVID graduates appear to have found other paths outside of higher education.

Three-fourths of Americans believe that a higher education is as, if not more, important than it was 20 years ago. But the bottom line related to maintaining, or potentially growing, enrollment is that the cost of attendance is a barrier for 41% of those who are presently, were previously, or never enrolled.

The latest National Student Clearinghouse figures show that enrollment for 2022-23 is up by comparison to 2021-22. "Freshman enrollment was up across all higher education sectors, with the greatest growth coming from community colleges, which gained 42,000 first-year students since last fall, an increase of 6.1 percent." The Latino, Asian, and Native American numbers increased and Black first-year students remained essentially the same. Spring 2023 enrollment was flat, with some shifts in where students attend.

The "good news" for 2022-23 requires tempering with other estimates that predict immediate 2023-24 decline on top of the steady decline over the last dozen years. This decline will encounter a demographic shift in 2025 that will likely challenge institutions even more. The question of enrollment, and how it sustains budgets and institutional infrastructure will require adaptation across the spectrum of higher education. Examples of necessary change include inclusion of career-related issues in liberal arts institutions, regional public institutions offering a broader mix of credentialing, cooperation across state borders, and community college consortium models. Higher education may also move back to its "sweet spot" of the 1960s and 1970s - baby boomers. However, the baby boomers looked very different than the more diverse youth of the 2020s.

The early 2023-24 trends favored students of high socio-economic backgrounds and international students and also resulted in competitive colleges leading in numbers. The rise in Common Application submissions per student requires consideration by institutions seeking to yield their target enrollment. One of the most troubling parts of the competition is that several elite institutions settled in a class action lawsuit alleging collusion for decades in financial aid practices that ultimately benefitted students from higher socio-economic backgrounds.

Because standardized testing was judged to negatively impacted the prospect of students from diverse backgrounds, a number of institutions moved to test-optional applications. Columbia University was the first Ivy League institution to go test-optional in order to embrace more wholistic admission criteria. As the impact of not requiring tests scores in the admission process emerged, students faced a confusing patchwork of approaches.

Early-decision programs also accelerated, perhaps as a strategy to grab enrollment before other institutions have a chance. The major problem with this is that privileged students are the primary participants and beneficiaries and most of the early decision programs are found in small and elite colleges.

During good economic times, enrollments generally decline and then rebound under poor conditions. With the U.S.A. presently in an in between time, this trend may not be relevant. However, the decline in trust of higher education, especially among more conservative families, is a new factor that may be impacting enrollment trends. The political leaning of where higher education institutions are located is now beginning to factor into students' choices. Especially when cost is an issue for everyone, finding ways to revive a commitment to higher education is essential. Challenging the myth of higher education not reflecting the "real world" should be coupled with institutions committing to being learner and learning-centered. These images have potential appeal for those who aspire to attend college as well as skeptics who often don't buy that investing in a college education is worth it. The caveat on learning-centered practice is that researchers have found that "flipped classrooms" are not living up to their hype. The skeptics are found most often among more conservative groups, a dynamic that will likely continue to impact higher education pricing and ultimate enrollment.

Rising tuition is an outcome of a trend that started in the years of Ronald Reagan's governorship in California. Prior to his years, California boasted one of the best and least expensive systems in the U.S.A. With his persistence, the trend reversed in California and perhaps the entire nation. And now we are in a period where the public benefit of going to college is no longer recognized. As Nicole Barbaro indicates, "The cost of college today is economically too high, but there is another - though less tangible - cost of today's high tuition prices: the loss of intellectual curiosity. By approaching higher education primarily as a means to pursue job training, for which students should be responsible for paying the bulk of the costs, we have successfully stifled the notion of learning for learning's sake - and made doing so unaffordable to most." The conclusion that is increasingly being reached is that college attendance and completion is both/and - it should provide career preparation and it clearly leads to graduates' personal development, a worthy goal in itself.

Innovations such as direct admissions are boosting application numbers at many institutions but the degree of "melt" in admission is unpredictable. Direct admission has potential benefits to both institutions and students and may actually demonstrate the irrelevance of the application processes of the last seven decades. One thing that may help is that most institutions have not raised tuition, although the impact of inflation for all institutions has not yet been taken into account in pricing. Other colleges are cutting tuition - dramatically - as a "reset" of tuition pricing, and accompanying discounting, that got out of hand. Ironically, low-income students' cost of attendance increased at a faster rate than high-income students at a sample of 700 institutions. Some institutions are involving faculty in applicant review, which helps manage workload as well as offers faculty an insider's view of the complexities of recruitment and admission functions. In order to secure the optimal enrollment, a number of institutions have extended the deadline for student acceptance decisions.

The economic futures of higher education institutions are mixed which has resulted in state systems initiating education campaigns to reinforce the benefit of pursuing advanced education. Baum and McPherson describe ways for higher education to respond to economic pressures in their book, Campus Economics. Higher education in the U.S.A. is very diverse and institutions are best served to distinguish themselves by sectors and what they do best. Elite private institutions, such as Stanford University, are able to increase tuition charges while redirecting some of the revenue to more scholarships and financial aid to maintain enrollment.

As the demographics of the U.S.A. continue to diversify, students of color are increasingly sought to bolster enrollment. However, long-term systemic racism among students of color made them more vulnerable to dropping out, a complication that some institutions are attempting to counter with greater support from cultural centers. The need for greater financial assistance is one of the primary impediments to attendance and retention. The Biden administration initiative to cancel previous student loan debt is an important step to rectify historic disadvantage. However, the executive branch action is likely to be overturned by the Supreme Court. Nontraditional students are an increasing proportion of those who could potentially enroll but their special circumstances have to be considered as central, rather than marginal, to institution leaders. Going forward, institutions will have to determine pricing structures that offer more opportunity to diverse populations if they are to hold enrollment proportions even close to former decades. The Disney World strategy rewarding those who pay higher prices with line-jumping privileges should not be a model emulated in higher education.

Increased international student enrollment bolstered the budgets of many institutions prior to the pandemic. However, the number of internationals dropped dramatically when the pandemic took hold; the numbers rebounded but have not returned to previous levels. William Brustein, who stepped down from his position because he saw a decline in WVU's commitment to internationalization, proposed, "elite institutions like those in the Ivy League won't have trouble recruiting wealthy international students or forging partnerships around the world... but other institutions may not fare so well, due to the high cost of U.S. undergraduate education, coupled with shifting views of its value abroad and a decline in support from college administrators." The latest figures indicate that new international student enrollment has rebounded to almost pre-pandemic levels, with graduate students driving much of the surge. Recruiters and institutions need to examine how the international students who seek U.S.A. education are the same or different than other students. In fact, based on common application data, international prospects differ significantly from typical domestic students. One significant difference is that 40% of international students are increasingly uncomfortable with gun violence in the U.S.A. while employment opportunity during and after study as well as the cost of living impacts others.

Inside Higher Education's compilation of enrollment management strategies is a resource for those seeking to maximize success in a shifting and competitive environment. Benchmarking and outlier innovation reveals that improving enrollment management is pretty straight-forward. Facing inflation and rising salary pressure, college leaders favor revenue recovery through retention of current students or finding ways to bring students who stopped-out back. Commitment to improving retention and graduation is key and fortunately enough, indications that degree completion had stalled were later determined to actually be improving. On the other hand, students' low use of and dissatisfaction with advising services does not bode well for using advising as a strength. Soliciting donor support is another strategy but success in raising enough money to make a difference is challenging.

Students' degree completion dropped in fall 2022 for the first time since 2012, an indication that U.S.A. higher education is at a critical juncture. Confidence in higher education as a public good is no longer the common view of the goal of going to college. And, the costs are too high. Perhaps helping to reverse rising costs, federal earmarks include $1.7 billion for 550 colleges and universities across the U.S.A. State support for public institutions has increased but concerns are already being expressed if the increases will be sustained. And, the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) is investing $30 Million in improvement grants to help push the envelop of innovation.

Increasing mental health needs

We learned many things from the COVID pandemic including what didn't work in various systems and supply changes on which we depended. Health and wellness is an area that was exacerbated by the isolation of months of shut-downs where personal interaction was replaced by a mass movement to virtual communication and meetings. The Healthy Minds study found that the number of students in some form of therapy is at an all time high with 44% reporting signs of depression, 37% reporting anxiety, and 15% indicating suicidal thoughts. The 2023-24 assessment of students' mental health reflected slight improvement. Loneliness may be a common element across multiple types of mental health concerns. Mental health crises often goes unrecognized by peers and research has found that parents often had no clue that their children were struggling. Students seeking counseling help is a good sign but questions remain about the cause of rising needs.

The heightened awareness of both physical and mental health needs has reinforced the importance of providing a broader array of wellness interventions in higher education and community settings. Complicating the issue of addressing depression among students, research has found that those who identify as depressed cope less well than those who have similar symptoms but don't see themselves as depressed. Counseling support contributes to student persistence but being employed, family support, and extracurricular involvement can also help. Student affairs administrators have been at the forefront in responding to this need and getting ahead of the problem in ways that contribute to student success is essential.

Mental health is current students' top stressor and the soaring numbers related to anxiety disorder is one of the more prominent examples of unmet need. A close friend when I was a graduate student at CSU was a hilarious and talented student in veterinary medicine. He worked summer orientation with me and was selected as a resident assistant in my building. While serving as a resident assistant, he started coming to my apartment during the middle of the night, just wanting to be with me. All I knew to do was leave my door open to respond to his needs. When my company ceased to help, he went to the health center where he was prescribed medication. Unfortunately, medication ultimately seemed to exaggerate his symptoms. He withdrew from CSU to return home, broken by his inability to pursue his dream of becoming a vet.

Years later I began struggling with being able to sleep at night and I started having fearful thoughts that were almost obsessive. Immersed in frustration, I remembered my former friend and colleague and recognized the similarity between what I was experiencing and what caused him to leave his studies. I tracked him down to ask for his help. He immediately recognized my symptoms as similar to his own, symptoms that in the meantime had drawn him to pursue a doctorate in psychology with a research focus on anxiety disorder. To this day, I credit my friend and colleague with throwing me a life-line, one which prevented a deeper crash and offered hope (and success) in managing anxiety disorder throughout the rest of my adult life.

Anxiety disorder has now emerged as the most common mental health need, and stress is a strong deterrent for some students to even attempt pursuing a higher education. Estimates are that 34% of undergraduate students have some degree of anxiety disorder, a condition that appears to have been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and perhaps the advance of technology that drives many young people deeply into isolation. The isolation and reduced interaction with others has been hypothesized as increasing the prevalence of anxiety disorder. Researchers have found that 64% of those who have dropped out of college had mental health-related reasons, 45% of which had no accommodation and 50% had limited access to mental health services. The impact of this in disrupted educational and personal life is unmeasurable. And, the cost of college drop-outs to institutions justifies the researchers' call that colleges must do more to address mental health needs.

Disruption of education and life certainly require attention and support in higher education. Yet, some counselors warn that including predictable youthful stress and anxiety as indicative of mental health decline is a mistake. Inside Higher Education's interview of three mental health professionals highlighted that students' mental health and needs are sometimes better addressed by paying more attention to life skills and helping students acquire adversity management mindsets. One said, "Not every student on campus needs direct clinical care, but they all can benefit from a culture of caring and compassion." Trauma among students is another condition that may be more effectively addressed in a time-limited and practical way, rather than introducing deeper diagnosis and longer treatment. Campus environment conditions such as trust & transparency, peer support & belonging, and cultural humility & critically engaging difference can systemically respond to the trauma felt by a variety of students.

Addressing the increased prevalence of mental health complications requires more than just adding counselors. The 2023 Depression on College Campuses conference shed light on central challenges that require attention. Providing triage to determine what type of support students need may release some of the pressure for counseling. Some institutions resorted to out-sourcing counseling due to budget restrictions in the face of rising demand. Relying on external providers neglects the role of community, which can at least partially address students' needs through connective, supportive, and positive environments for all. The University of Maryland teaches emotional regulation in a 1-credit course to provide a tool for those students who elect to take the course. Other campuses are redefining the the role of counseling and replacing previous Directors who have perhaps been slow to change their models. Creating campus spaces that foster different types of student engagement is a trend on other campuses.

With college mental health counselors reporting concern about their ability to address students' needs, finding other ways to respond is critical. Faculty are first to see evidence of students in crisis, but training and support is required to increase their effectiveness. Four out of ten students say that faculty are central to addressing stress, with primary sources being exams and pressure to do well. Faculty can contribute to increased student success including being more flexible about deadlines, teaching strategies, and attendance/participation. Even strategies using virtual reality are being adopted to train and to reach broader numbers of students in need.

The creativity of faculty who integrate practicable mental health skills in regular courses would do a lot to improve the campus climate. Encouraging resilience is an important part of a positive climate but it must not minimize the suffering experienced by those struggling with mental health. Officials at the University of New England say, "Messages of strength, resilience and the expectation of positive outcomes must extend beyond college counseling services to all aspects of the student experience" and well-coordinated networks of support should be a dependable dimension of the student experience.

One of the most critical questions is how well prepared are students to face the reality of living and working after graduation, a challenge captured in a Harvard graduate's reflections. A survey of graduates ages 22 to 28 determined that 51% needed mental health support in the last year with variations in types of problems and a disparity of impact for men and women. One of the most interesting findings was that peer relationships (57%) and extracurriculars (51%) were most helpful in preparing them for their past-graduate experience.

My previous blog post on Health and Well-being in Higher Education addresses the variety of challenges related to the mental health needs of students, a phenomenon that is complicated and requires a comprehensive response. I'm thankful that educators are now understanding the need for greater mental health services and a more wholistic approach to it, a commitment that is reinforced by my personal experience and the professional role I played as a university administrator for over 40 years.

Open access to scholarship

The evolution of scientific understanding and stretching for innovation is one of the outcomes that higher education strives to achieve throughout the world. And, one of the primary ways that research and knowledge advances is through open access to outcomes.

After the Biden administration committed U.S.A. higher education to open access in publishing the findings of federally-funded research, other regions and countries are repositioning to remain part of the international scholarly discourse. It is unclear who will be involved and on what timeline but Asia is likely to follow the U.S.A. lead.

One of the factors that impacts open access is the fees charged by journals for open access publishing. Smaller countries may struggle to find the resources to fund these publications. However, in order to make sure that their scholars are part of the international conversations, even smaller countries will need to find a way.

The "caste" system in higher education - and ways to address it

As higher education has become increasingly commodified, hierarchies of quality and elitism have continued to harden. The problem is fairly easy to discern. When higher education is allowed to slip into a caste system of its own, similar to what Wilkerson describes in her book Caste - The Origin of our Discontents (2020). The point in education is that, where faculty and students are sorted into institution environments that are either rich or poor, the impact of caste is perpetuated and perhaps even magnified over time.

A review of Status and Culture... suggests that caste is primarily about seeking status, a point that is obvious in higher education. An important addition offered by David Marx is that the most destructive place in a status hierarchy is in the middle. Why? Because those with the highest status frequently presume to be the change makers setting the standard while those at the bottom literally have nothing to lose by challenging it. Those in the middle continue to fight over who's better than the other while being essentially controlled by the two ends of the continuum.

The brazenness that is possible, and likely necessary, at the bottom is revealed in Reyes' The Purpose Gap. Written to expose the chasm between systems of privilege for white and minoritized groups, Reyes advises Black and Brown colleagues to not rely on white liberal solutions to inequity. The solutions offered by the established hierarchy is to identify "star" and exceptional Black and Brown candidates who manage to succeed even against the odds, when the real solution needs to be creating constellations of excellence where the opportunity gap is bridged. The lack of comparability in minority student degree completion represents a potential of $2.9 billion per year in lost wages. HBCUs have been an important contributor to reducing the economic gap and lack of support for them is a risk to U.S. democracy.

Oh, and by the way, minoritized groups are increasingly taking charge of language. Using Black instead of other words has been around for quite some time. There is now push back on using the presumed non-gendered "Latinx" language. The preference is Latine (plural) for those who identify in singular as Latino or Latina.

The word "caste" was not used by Mintz in his opinion piece "Why implementing a Richer, More Robust Academic Experience is so Hard?" but he clearly identified the gaps among different types of institutions. The caste gaps are systemic and have existed for a very long time, as evidenced in the fact that Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) receive 178 times less in donations than Ivy League institutions. Even though they often have fewer resources, attending an HBCU increases a student's chances of graduating and contributes to a modest increased earnings potential. The challenges of leading an HBCU may be a contributing factor in high turn-over of their Presidents, which in turn undermines their progress. The Blue Meridian Partners pledged $124 million in support for HBCUs to begin to address the imbalance of resources. Addressing the gaps would offer constellations of opportunity and talent and Mintz recommended specific ways that the caste hierarchy should be addressed.

The principles proposed by Mintz are by no means revolutionary. They include commitments to holistic development, an outcomes focus, interdisciplinarity, experiential learning, and pathways to career preparation. Mintz says that we all know that the higher education "system" is disparate and unequal, tantamount to a caste hierarchy. Calling educators to task, Mintz proposes that "We need a call to arms or an appeal to the better angels of our nature: a demand that all students, not just the most privileged, get the kind of higher education that truly engages students, embeds them in a community of learning and provides genuine mentoring, gives them the chance to engage in research and grapple with the biggest issues of our time and of all time, and better prepares them for adulthood." And, when degrees are completed, minoritized students should be informed about, and encouraged to use, networks that privileged students use all the time to secure internship and employment opportunity. Career networking for graduate students is particularly important since graduate school connections contribute to everything from employment to further research and study opportunity.

The perceived value of higher education differs depending on who you ask. Rankings are a highly disputed but often referenced guide to academic supremacy. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings are based on research publications, citations, and reputational assessment, measures that may or may not relate to student learning outcomes and positive benefit to individuals and society at large. Federal and state policies are biased toward economic returns, but some educators urge consideration of broader outcomes. Other measures of value might include "civic benefits, such as voting, for example, and volunteering, charitable giving."

Caste and elitism are significant impediments to renewing higher education's contribution to innovation. Mintz reinforced this point in his warning that innovation may be stagnating in our institutions. He suggests that an academic approach may, in fact, be the enemy of creativity and novelty at least partially, if not substantially, because innovation challenges assumed truths and traditions. The way out of this is to return to the intense inquiry of former eras by fostering more active learning around real-world problems.

And, actively engaging real-world problems has to be done in learning spaces that are inclusive of diverse points of view. But finding ways to be more inclusive can be a challenge, especially when revision of a knowledge base can risk cultural appropriation, which can perpetuate previous power differentials rather than challenge them.

The composition of learning communities is obviously at the center of challenging "caste" in higher education. Legacy admissions has been central to many elite institutions, a strategy that fosters loyalty and financial support of graduates and their families. A remnant of discrimination against Jewish applicants in the 1920s, the practice also guarantees the perpetuation of caste which has caused some institutions to move away from legacy preference. Diversity among the faculty is another part of the problem.

The U.S.A. Supreme Court Affirmative Action decision related to college applications led to questions about the preference given to legacies, which may lead to undoing the practice. Maintaining consideration of race increases the likelihood of diverse learners engaged with each other while legacy admission results in the opposite. A commitment to diversification that includes, but attempts to go beyond, race is the University of Utah's "Grit" admits, a strategy focused on learners from diverse backgrounds who have demonstrated resilience in challenging circumstances.

The goal that is most imperiled by caste in higher education is enhancing student learning through diversity and inclusion. As Colleen Flaherty opined, "the best means of promoting student success... means moving beyond the gates of the academy and applying learning in real-world settings in the community. Other times it involves working on diverse teams in the classroom on problems that matter to both the individual and society." The point - it's about engaging real-world questions with a diverse representation of students.

Carnegie Mellon University in Africa

Higher education partnerships that offer quality education in other countries is a form of knowledge diplomacy and it often comes with financial benefit to the higher education partner that is willing to commit to these oases of learning. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has two partnerships in countries where non-democratic governments are in place - Rwanda and Qatar. Both of these partnerships have caused skeptics to question if presence in a non-democratic setting is acceptable.

MasterCard Foundation's commitment of $275.7 million to the Rwanda partnership raised previous concerns to a new level. Carnegie Mellon University - Africa in Rwanda evolved from a small 2-year masters in engineering program in 2011. Growing enrollment/profile and concerns about Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, who has been criticized for multiple human rights abuses, have invigorated earlier concerns.

Recognizing two different views of what a higher education institution is might help inform the debate in this specific example, or in any international higher education partnership. In one view, is a higher education institution primarily a virtuous enclave where scholars and learners go to be perfected in their intellectual insight and prepared to live their best lives? By contrast, is a higher education institution an imperfect instrument of learning and evolutionary change that should engage with its scholars, learners, and communities as a platform for improving individual and collective life?

If higher education is perceived as a virtuous enclave then remaining distant from flawed and potentially abusive governments is likely justified. On the other hand, accepting higher education as imperfect and in search of refined knowledge and improved ways of learning would lead to engaging completely, with eyes wide open, but not pretending that either a higher education institution or specific government is ideal. The partnership is necessarily about transformation of both.

Only in Chicago!

A very interesting post for Inside Higher Education included a run-down of a visit to Chicago. It was quite a pleasure to see my current city profiled in such a positive way. Highlights included the Art Institute, Shedd Aquarium, riding the EL, and a Cubs game at Wrigley Stadium. Yes, Chicago is a pretty wondrous place.

Oh, and by the way, Chicago has higher education opportunity across the full spectrum of community colleges to open public and private universities to some of the most recognized brands for quality education in the world.

Differentiating students' motivations, services, and cost

An arm-chair view of higher education in the U.S.A. reveals a vast number of institutions trying to emulate each other, especially the more successful institutions judged by competitiveness of admission standards and number enrolled. A framework was laid out for differentiating student motivations and therefore services at a meeting of the National Association of College & University Business Officers. This could be a game-changer in terms of appeal to discrete populations and it could save every institution money - by allowing each to avoid replicating each other by providing resources and services that mean little to some of their students.

The student typologies identified in the model (from most likely to be currently involved in traditional institutions to least likely) are:

• Wayfinding intellectuals (7%)
• Campus enthusiasts (16%)
• Junior specialists (31%)
• Evolving professionals (23%)
• Mid-career climbers (14%)
• Trajectory performers (9)

It's fairly easy to see the problem - the number of students currently enrolled who want the full traditional experience versus those who have very specific purposes in mind is roughly the same. The first three categories include 54% of the possible population who could be attracted to pursue or return to higher education and the other 46% remain underserved and likely priced out of attendance by the cost of services offered to the other groups.

Many faculty and staff are unaware that they favor the wayfinders and campus enthusiasts, largely due to these students seeking opportunity and responding when offered the chance for enriching experiences. The language used to promote opportunity as well as ongoing interactions can communicate to "less involved" students that they are somehow imposters or don't really belong in the academic world.

The evolving professionals and mid-career climbers seek opportunity to advance in the workplace and, therefore, are likely to place high value on experiential opportunities such as internships. The return on investment of good jobs is a high priority for them and the cost of education may be hard to justify, especially when coupled with lost time working years and the ongoing expense of loan repayment. Student disengagement in learning when classroom content doesn't align with their career interests is a serious vulnerability. Some universities are attempting to address this population with alternative credentialing and enhanced career preparation opportunities. Liberal arts faculty are also beginning to recognize that career interest does not stand in opposition to liberal learning. Advocates for career-readiness criticize one-off innovations that lack broad institutional integration.

A looming problem for students who seek the full traditional learning experience, is access. Many institutions, large publics in particular, have turned to honors programs to offer a richer, fuller experience for the students who qualify for these programs. The problem is - honors programs are also forms of elite hierarchy and the only way to offer more students the quality of experience that honors students receive is to scale them to larger populations.

The "Varying Degrees" report indicates that most Americans see value in higher education but that the percentage of those who endorse it has declined slightly. The compilation of "Measuring the Value of Higher Education" provides other evidence that is helpful in understanding public opinion. Democrats have greater confidence and encourage public support where Republicans are lower on both. Differences in perspective were also found across generations. Advocacy for test optional admissions and for services to support students were  lower among Boomers than among the current generation attending higher education institutions.

An often overlooked issue for colleges and universities is the look and feel of the physical campus. Modernization, cleanliness, and appearance are more important to students than many realize. The Student Voice survey indicates that most students are satisfied with the basics but believe that labs and arts facilities are not as good as students would like for them to be. Use of facilities varies by student motivation and access but whatever spaces are used must be adequately maintained and updated.

As a student affairs educator, these figures and the potential shift of institutions to more lean and focused offerings raises concern. Student affairs generally assumes, and seeks to offer, the full experience to all students regardless of their openness to it. For the institutions that by reputation and selectivity can offer everything, student affairs may be able to continue pretty much the same. However, other institutions are likely to curtail the breadth of offerings in order to remain solvent; in this model, student affairs will need to look very different if it is to survive.

One student affairs educator offered opinion in an essay advocating for universities to "reimagine themselves" by expanding the time-proven wholistic education concept to offer greater access. This is essential for those student affairs educators who champion access and inclusion. And, by the way, a different approach should not be reductionist and therefore lesser quality, but different, qualitatively comparable, and less expensive.

Courting international students requires new mind-set

In a statement calling for a new mind-set toward Chinese international students in the U.S.A., Xiafeng Wan asserted, "The prevalent mind-set of treating Chinese students as cash cows is not only detrimental to U.S. higher education's reputation for academic excellence and quality but also dehumanizes Chinese students and diminishes their innumerable intellectual and social contributions to their host institutions and U.S. society."

Proof of the economic motivations to attract international students is reflected in many places and particularly in the post-pandemic rebound of international students. While they still represent the largest contingent, the rebound includes a sustained drop in Chinese student enrollment. One of the important elements to consider in working with Chinese students is family and their ability to pay. Stereotypes of Chinese students are that they are all wealthy. While many can pay, or sacrifice to pay, there is considerable variation which must be understood if Chinese families are to continue to fund the enormous amounts of money required for U.S.A. degrees.

Richard J. Joseph in his book, Bridging the Gap Between the Abundance of American Higher Education Talent and the Immense Foreign Demand for it, looks at the necessity of U.S.A. institutions to pay attention to the financial bottom line but urged educators to go further. In addition to the financial implications, Joseph recommended remaining true to the altruistic calling of education as a transformative experience and enhancing sustainability while advancing knowledge diplomacy. While these aims are central, it is important not to perpetuate cultural imperialism but, "strive to strengthen a liberal world order in which men and women can pursue the truth freely, without fear and based on their own cultural values."

Joseph's book, although not focused on the humanities, complements a view that the humanities should embrace international perspectives. In fact, internationalizing may be the path to survival of majors beyond the service courses offered by humanities programs. Advocating more in international perspective is not only strategic for survival but is an important element to "help institutions maximize the effectiveness of exceptionally diverse workforces" and prepare graduates to embrace "the anxieties that many individuals feel in environments without well-defined norms, expectations and pathways to advancement."

Franklin & Marshall was unusually successful in maintaining robust enrollment of international students even during the political gyrations of the Trump years and then the pandemic. Shifting to a Shanghai in-person location and on-line learning helped, which complemented the personal touch of a faculty member who was a strong internationalization advocate. F&M President, Barbara K. Altman, attributes their success to fully meeting student need, whether foreign or domestic, and creating a global community from which all students can benefit.

What employers want is not far from what educators cultivate

The ambivalence among many U.S.A. academics about career preparation lingers in many institutions and intellectual circles. The practicality of what students seek, which is a job at the end of the degree, and what employers value in skills for their employees may be more similar than some think. It's practical and economic on everyone's part - students, institutions, and those who hire graduates.

Research on the AAC&U's essential learning outcomes found that what employers uniformly want are critical thinking skills. Line managers versus executives were aligned on some skills and slightly different on others. Critical thinking, inquiry and analysis, problem solving, teamwork, and written communication were top-ranked by both groups. Creative thinking and oral communication were identified as more important among managers while ethical reasoning and integrative learning were ranked higher for executives. Presidents of liberal arts institutions engaged with technology sector leaders in discussion about the balance between skill-based training and generalizable learning outcomes. The conclusion was that both are valued and that liberal arts leaders will be best served to focus on, and more actively promote, the benefits of the learning outcomes previously characterized as "soft skills," which are increasingly being seen as "people" or "power" skills. A confession of a liberal arts faculty member who found that liberal education does not stand in opposition to career interests reinforces this point.

While self-awareness is not on the AAC&U essential learning outcomes list, it isn't difficult to determine that it is foundational to skills such as problem solving and teamwork. It's very difficult to engage in critical thinking and analysis in a group if you're unaware of who you are and how you impact others. With notable public figures lacking and being unaware of themselves, some would say that technical preparation or skills are much more trainable than temperament.

Equally important to understand are what skills employers ranked lowest from the essential learning outcomes. Lifelong learning, global learning, and intercultural knowledge and competence made this list but that's not because they are unimportant. Employers view these skills as being developed during employment as recent graduates mature in their worklife.

An adjoining and critical question is the degree to which work-readiness is actually occurring. It's one thing to align institutional goals and student desires but, if work preparedness is not achieved, everyone suffers. Inside Higher Education's Student Voice survey identified a significant lack of experiential learning to support work-readiness. "Nearly four in 10 (39 percent) college students and recent graduates surveyed have had neither an internship nor an experiential learning opportunity this past year." 

Educators will benefit from attending to what employers seek in graduates; from this research, alignment is not far off. However, employers believe that critical thinking and written communication skills are the most consistently needed attributes and are sometimes not as well developed as they would prefer.