higher education policy trends

4 trends that will shape the future of higher education

Higher education needs to address the problems it faces by moving towards active learning, and teaching skills that will endure in a changing world. Image:  Vasily Koloda for Unsplash

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• Measures adopted during the pandemic do not address the root causes of the problems facing higher education.
• Institutions need to undertake true reform, moving towards active learning, and teaching skills that will endure in a changing world.
• Formative assessment is more effective than high-stakes exams in equipping students with the skills they need to succeed.

Since the onset of the recent pandemic, schools and universities have been forced to put a lot of their teaching online. On the surface, this seems to have spurred a series of innovations in the education sector. Colleges around the world embraced more flexibility, offering both virtual and physical classrooms. Coding is making its way into more school curricula , and the SAT exam for college admission in the US has recently been shortened and digitized , making it easier to take and less stressful for students.

These changes might give the illusion that education is undergoing some much-needed reform. However, if we look closely, these measures do not address the real problems facing higher education. In most countries, higher education is inaccessible to the socio-economically underprivileged, certifies knowledge rather than nurtures learning, and focuses on easily-outdated knowledge. In brief, it is failing on both counts of quality and access.

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Four ways universities can future-proof education, the global education crisis is even worse than we thought. here's what needs to happen, covid-19’s impact on jobs and education: using data to cushion the blow, higher education trends.

In the last year, we have started to see examples of true reform, addressing the root causes of the education challenge. Below are four higher education trends we see taking shape in 2022.

1. Learning from everywhere

There is recognition that as schools and universities all over the world had to abruptly pivot to online teaching, learning outcomes suffered across the education spectrum . However, the experiment with online teaching did force a reexamination of the concepts of time and space in the education world. There were some benefits to students learning at their own pace, and conducting science experiments in their kitchens . Hybrid learning does not just mean combining a virtual and physical classroom, but allowing for truly immersive and experiential learning, enabling students to apply concepts learned in the classroom out in the real world.

So rather than shifting to a “learn from anywhere ” approach (providing flexibility), education institutions should move to a “learn from everywhere ” approach (providing immersion). One of our partners, the European business school, Esade, launched a new bachelor’s degree in 2021, which combines classes conducted on campus in Barcelona, and remotely over a purpose-designed learning platform, with immersive practical experiences working in Berlin and Shanghai, while students create their own social enterprise. This kind of course is a truly hybrid learning experience.

2. Replacing lectures with active learning

Lectures are an efficient way of teaching and an ineffective way of learning. Universities and colleges have been using them for centuries as cost-effective methods for professors to impart their knowledge to students.

However, with digital information being ubiquitous and free, it seems ludicrous to pay thousands of dollars to listen to someone giving you information you can find elsewhere at a much cheaper price. School and college closures have shed light on this as bad lectures made their way into parents’ living rooms, demonstrating their ineffectiveness.

Education institutions need to demonstrate effective learning outcomes, and some are starting to embrace teaching methods that rely on the science of learning. This shows that our brains do not learn by listening, and the little information we learn that way is easily forgotten (as shown by the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve , below). Real learning relies on principles such as spaced learning, emotional learning, and the application of knowledge.

The educational establishment has gradually accepted this method, known as 'fully active learning'. There is evidence that it not only improves learning outcomes but also reduces the education gap with socio-economically disadvantaged students. For example, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU based in Texas, launched an Honors Program using fully active learning in 2020, combined with internships at regional employers. This has given students from traditionally marginalised backgrounds the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained at university in the real world.

3. Teaching skills that remain relevant in a changing world

According to a recent survey, 96% of Chief Academic Officers at universities think they are doing a good job preparing young people for the workforce . Less than half (41%) of college students and only 11% of business leaders shared that view. Universities continue to focus on teaching specific skills involving the latest technologies, even though these skills and the technologies that support them are bound to become obsolete. As a result, universities are forever playing catch up with the skills needed in the future workplace.

What we need to teach are skills that remain relevant in new, changing, and unknown contexts. For example, journalism students might once have been taught how to produce long-form stories that could be published in a newspaper; more recently, they would have been taught how to produce shorter pieces and post content for social media. More enduring skills would be: how to identify and relate to readers, how to compose a written piece; how to choose the right medium for your target readership. These are skills that cross the boundaries of disciplines, applying equally to scientific researchers or lawyers.

San Francisco-based Minerva University, which shares a founder with the Minerva Project, has broken down competencies such as critical thinking or creative thinking into foundational concepts and habits of mind . It teaches these over the four undergraduate years and across disciplines, regardless of the major a student chooses to pursue.

4. Using formative assessment instead of high-stake exams

If you were to sit the final exam of the subject you majored in today, how would you fare? Most of us would fail, as that exam did not measure our learning, but rather what information we retained at that point in time. Equally, many of us hold certifications in subject matters we know little about.

Many people gain admission to higher education based on standardized tests that skew to a certain socio-economic class , rather than measure any real competency level. Universities then try to rectify this bias by imposing admission quotas, rather than dissociating their evaluation of competence from income level. Many US universities are starting to abandon standardized tests, with Harvard leading the charge , and there have been some attempts to replace high-stake exams with other measures that not only assess learning outcomes but actually improve them.

Formative assessment, which entails both formal and informal evaluations through the learning journey, encourages students to actually improve their performance rather than just have it evaluated. The documentation and recording of this assessment includes a range of measures, replacing alphabetical or numerical grades that are uni-dimensional.

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle inequity.

The Forum's work on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Social Justice is driven by the New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity.

The Platform produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit , and drives or supports action initiatives, such as Partnering for Racial Justice in Business , The Valuable 500 – Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap , Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work , Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators , the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality , the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice .

The International School in Geneva just launched its Learner Passport that includes measures of creativity, responsibility and citizenship. In the US, a consortium of schools have launched the Mastery Transcript Consortium that has redesigned the high school transcript to show a more holistic picture of the competencies acquired by students.

Education reform requires looking at the root cause of some of its current problems. We need to look at what is being taught (curriculum), how (pedagogy), when and where (technology and the real world) and whom we are teaching (access and inclusion). Those institutions who are ready to address these fundamental issues will succeed in truly transforming higher education.

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2023 Trends in Higher Education

• Posted on: February 15, 2023
• Topic: Higher Ed Trends , Higher Education

Three years into the pandemic, colleges and universities continue to adapt while making strategic decisions that are reshaping higher education for the long term. Institutions that stay current with evolving student and industry needs are position ed to not only survive but thrive in the years ahead.  

Download our report, 2023 Trends in Higher Education, to learn the top trends and bold ideas shaping higher education in 2023–24: 

• Career-focused learning flourishes in modernized, stackable formats  
• Debt-free education captures attention  
• Institutions rework financial models and revenue streams to attain sustainability  
• Inclusion and support services build connection, acceptance, and success  
• Increased marketing spending puts pressure on quantifiable results  

“Colleges and universities are feeling an urgency to embrace alternative strategies and data-driven research to identify and solve systemic problems — not only for weathering today’s challenges but also for securing their place as an appealing, competitive destination for years to come.”  

Embracing Change in Higher Education

Faced with financial, enrollment, and marketing challenges, institutional leaders are embracing new tuition, degree, and classroom models that move beyond decades of tradition. They’re addressing critical mental health and equity needs that are necessary to sustain a resilient and welcoming campus. And they are evolving their messaging to confidently champion the value of their educational experience, even as economic headwinds and public sentiment threaten to diminish the pursuit of a degree.  

Hanover’s 2023 Trends in Higher Education report highlights new and continued priorities for the year, drawn from our higher education research and experience advising and collaborating with hundreds of institutions. The trends, recommendations, and case studies outlined in this report align with the formidable decisions higher education leaders face as they work to deliver their core services while anticipating what’s next.  

“Today’s undergraduate and graduate students are accustomed to flexibility and digital-first models; a strategic, future-forward approach to their learning is key to elevating an institution’s brand and attracting more potential enrollees.”  

See where higher education is heading

Download the report to see what’s next for your institution..

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2023 Higher Education Trends

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A look at the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping America's higher education sector.

Higher education’s new era

Trend No. 1: College enrollment reaches its peak

Trend No. 2: The value of the degree undergoes further questioning

Trend No. 3: The business model faces a full-scale transformation

Trend No. 4: Talent management becomes a strategy

Trend No. 5: The magnitude of risks demands a new response paradigm

Partners on the path forward.

Faced with complex issues and untapped opportunities, higher education institutions need fresh perspectives and advanced skill sets to chart a way forward. Deloitte’s Higher Education practice brings those to the table, enabling us to serve as a uniquely effective, collaborative partner. As a leading provider of higher education professional services, we help institutions around the world address complex challenges from multiple perspectives. We work with an extensive variety of colleges, universities, research institutions, community colleges, and systems of higher education, creating new pathways to success for their students, and for themselves. We contribute to the greater discourse on access, affordability, persistence, and other key issues, and we craft practical solutions to address such issues within the unique culture and governance structure of each individual institution.

Megan Cluver

Top 6 trends in higher education

Subscribe to the center for universal education bulletin, emal dusst and emal dusst private equity professional - sterling partners @emal_dusst rebecca winthrop rebecca winthrop director - center for universal education , senior fellow - global economy and development @rebeccawinthrop.

January 10, 2019

Around the world, tuition at universities is rising at a much faster rate than inflation and challenging students’ return on investment. Reduced government funding and higher operating costs are driving the need for change at universities. The mismatch in employer needs and employee skills is leaving over seven million jobs unfilled in the U.S.

These trends are opening the way for new approaches in higher education. Innovations in how post-secondary education are delivered, financed, and recognized are driven by a range of actors—from large public universities like Arizona State University to elite private institutions like MIT to the many relatively new education companies entering the sector like Make School, Coursera , and Trilogy Education .

But to understand why these new approaches are emerging, we need to first look at what is driving them. While there are many factors influencing the direction of post-secondary education around the world, three are particularly noteworthy for influencing recent innovation: reduced return on investment for students, reduced government spending, and significant skills mis-matches between graduates’ abilities and jobs available.

What’s driving innovation in higher education

One way students can evaluate whether to invest in higher education is through potential wage premiums—namely if what students would earn with their education is higher than what they would earn without it. An important element in understanding the return on investment of higher education is the cost of the degree.

The average wage premium in the EU and U.S. for those with a tertiary education is approximately 60 to 75 percent more than they could earn without the degree, while it is around 150 percent in some middle-income countries like Brazil and Chile. In the U.S., tuition prices have skyrocketed and the cost of an undergraduate degree is 13 times higher than it was 40 years ago. Tuition and fees have increased over 1,000 percent since the late 1970s and the increase in the cost of food and housing was less than a third of that.

Another aspect influencing recent innovations is the increase in tuition and fees, which stems from a mix of factors including reduced government funding and increased spending on amenities to attract students. In the U.S., for example, states cut funding deeply after the recession hit—spending 16 percent less per student in 2018 than in 2008. Universities are responding with cost cuts and seeking alternative revenue sources. For example, Purdue University has reduced its in-state student intake by approximately 4,000 over the last ten years—while increasing its out-of-state and international student intake by about 5,000—as these students pay higher tuition largely without the need of financial aid.

In addition to reduced funding, rising costs, and decreasing wage premiums in places like the U.S. and U.K., there is also the worry that what students learn at university will not necessarily give them the skills needed for the jobs available. This skills mis-match is particularly acute in fields like computer science where real-world practice easily outpaces academic curricula. By 2020, one million computer science-related jobs will go unfilled, and many computer science programs at universities are outdated. In the words of one Make School college student attending its innovative tech program after taking computer science classes from the elite public university where he received a B.A., “my university courses taught me all about the theory of computer science, but I couldn’t actually code.”

There are currently seven million job openings and over 6.3 million job seekers in the U.S., and the acceleration of the digital economy and the rise of automation is only exacerbating this worker shortage. Of the job openings mentioned, 1.2 million or 17 percent are in the healthcare sector , highlighting a continued shortage of nurses in the U.S. According to a recent study by McKinsey , this sector is the only one in which “the need for physical and manual skills will grow in the years leading to 2030.”

These major shifts in higher education are opening opportunities for new approaches and new actors to help support post-secondary learning and skill development. There are six trends that are particularly notable.

1. Online education has become an increasingly accepted option, especially when “stackable” into degrees. Enrollment in online courses has more than quadrupled in the last 15 years in the U.S. While not as explosive in other countries, online options are gaining traction around the world. Given the increased cost of higher education, online programs are offering not just increased flexibility, but also a major reduction in cost. Coursera offers a fully online master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in computer and information technology for one-third the cost of the on-campus version. Several programs are also allowing students to “test” degrees by taking courses that can eventually be “stacked” into a degree, thus lowering their risk. MIT now offers a supply chain management degree with a portion of the curriculum online through edX before students enter the on-campus program. Arizona State University allows students to take the first year online as part of the Global Freshman Academy . In both programs, students complete a portion of the degree online and then apply for the on-campus, full degree at a fraction of the price.

2. Competency-based education (CBE) lowers costs and reduces completion time for students. There is an increase in CBE, which allows students to apply their work and life experience to their education. These degree programs tend to be less expensive, self-paced, and more career-oriented. If students—either through workplace training, outside reading, or purely life experience—happen to have the competence and knowledge required for a particular subject, they can take the test and get credit without having to take a class. Title IV funding (financial aid) is available for some of these programs, which includes the University of Wisconsin and Southern New Hampshire University, a sign that the U.S. Department of Education recognizes their importance. In previous discussions, the global strategy company Parthenon estimated that more than 600 institutions are either exploring or have launched CBE programs, with double-digit growth expected annually from 2013 to 2020. It is too early to predict the efficacy of these programs, but their popularity with students and employers continues to rise.

3. Income Share Agreements (ISAs) help students reduce the risk associated with student loans. In the U.S., the private sector is improving the student loan dilemma for students with ISAs. Countries like Australia have government-run agreements—where students don’t pay back their loans until they get a job and meet certain income thresholds—but currently, private companies provide ISA options in the U.S. Vemo Education works with universities and skills-providers to establish these agreements. Institutions can also make direct offerings, such as at the previously mentioned Make School, which provides a newly accredited applied computer science degree designed to take two to three years. This requires students to pay back 20 percent of their income for the first five years of employment, and if they don’t find a job, they aren’t responsible for payments. Institutions share the risk with the students, and in this particular program, are held accountable for student outcomes.

4. Online Program Manager (OPM) organizations benefit both universities and nontraditional, working-adult students. OPMs help traditional universities build and maintain their online degree or program offerings, while opening new and flexible options to nontraditional students. Generally, through a revenue share model, the university provides the content, while the OPM primarily puts it online and leads the marketing efforts. The leader in this market is 2U , which, for example, partners with the University of North Carolina to deliver an online master’s degree in public health. Another smaller but fast-growing player in this market, which according to Eduventures , is expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2020, is Coursera, which works with the University of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and HEC Paris, among others. Companies like Trilogy Education partner with top universities to deliver in-person skills training on-campus in fields such as coding and cybersecurity. Other companies like Orbis Education partner with universities to help bridge the healthcare provider shortage through a hybrid approach to pre-licensure healthcare programs, while ExecOnline partners with top business schools to deliver executive leadership courses online.

5. Enterprise training companies are filling the skills gap by working directly with employers. Given the massive mismatch in employer needs and worker skills, there are many companies working with corporations to ensure employees are rightfully skilled. Trilogy Education not only partners with universities, as mentioned above, but also leverages its network of partners and its platform to help companies bridge their own tech-talent gaps in both hiring and training. One of the more successful models has been Pluralsight , which is an online platform for IT and software developer training. Its focused, industry-updated content, and close ties to employers are key success factors. A unique model to address this mismatch is Revature’s platform, which utilizes university partnerships and close collaboration with employers to deliver a program where students pay their tuition over a two-year period after they are employed.

6. Pathway programs facilitate increasing transnational education, which serves as an additional revenue stream for universities. The brightest students around the world that can afford to study abroad are increasingly embarking on journeys overseas, primarily to the U.S., U.K., and Australia. According to Studyportals , the number of internationally mobile students is expected to increase from 4.5 million in 2015 to nearly seven million in 2030. International students are increasingly attractive to universities, as they allow expanded reach and programs offered at different price points. Students from China, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea account for more than 50 percent of students who go abroad to earn their degree, with China as the largest source . The U.S. has seen a recent decline in its growth of international students, which some link to stricter immigration policies, but student flows are expected to increase globally. Pathway programs, which are a small but fast-growing segment of the transnational education market, help foreign students get admission into U.S. institutions through bridging academic entry standards. Companies such as the U.K.-based Study Group and U.S.-based Shorelight partner with universities to set up these programs and use revenue share models, providing an additional revenue source for universities. Most of these programs are in countries that have been traditional draws for higher education like the U.S., but some are now also in countries like China that traditionally send many students overseas.

There will undoubtedly be on-going opportunities for new approaches and actors to innovate in higher education as the sector continues to face high costs, decreasing returns on investment, and skills mis-matches. Watching these six trends and how they develop over time will be interesting. It is unlikely that they will reverse course anytime soon.

Emal Dusst, a Robert S. Brookings Society member, serves on several education-related boards, including Coursera (observer) and American University of Afghanistan. Dusst was vice president, strategy and chief of staff to the CEO at Laureate Education, a B Corp and the largest international network of degree-granting higher education institutions. Dusst has a Bachelor’s in economics from UCLA and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. As a Robert S. Brookings Society member, Dusst provides financial support to the Brookings Institution. The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the authors and the content adheres to Brookings’s commitment to quality, independence, and impact.

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5 higher education trends to watch for in 2024.

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After a tumultuous 2023, here are five higher education trends to expect in 2024.

With the countdown to the new year now over, attention turns to what major developments might be in store for higher education in 2024.

The past year was a generally difficult one for American colleges and universities . Dozens of institutions struggled to manage serious budget deficits; campus strife intensified over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza; several prominent university presidents were forced to resign; state legislatures ramped up their attacks on curricular and diversity initiatives; and a small enrollment rebound was offset by a significant decline in the number of new freshmen, raising concerns the long downturn in college attendance is likely to continue.

What will be the major higher education issues in 2024? Will it be a better year for colleges and universities, or another year marked by turmoil and controversy? Here are five trends to watch.

The Changing Admissions Landscape

As a recent Inside Higher Education article predicts, college admissions policies and practices will be where a lot of action takes place in 2024. Look for more legal challenges to race-conscious considerations in the awarding of financial aid and other admissions practices as follow-ons to last year’s Supreme Court decision banning the practice at selective colleges. And on the flip side, more institutions will try to maintain a commitment to student diversity with new enrollment strategies that comply with the Court’s ruling.

In response to the ongoing criticism of legacy admissions, expect additional colleges to end their practice of giving an admissions advantage to the children of alumni, joining dozens of other institutions that have stopped using legacy preferences in recent years.

Direct or guaranteed admission programs will increase as colleges search for ways to boost enrollments and reach students who might otherwise not be inclined to consider college. Institutions also are likely to add or enlarge college preparation and bridge programs to persuade more students to enroll.

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All of this will play out against the backdrop of an overhauled Free Application for Federal Student Aid. While the long-awaited simplification of the FAFSA should help more low-income students receive federal Pell Grants, it will add another complication to a college admission/enrollment management staff members who already are feeling overburdened.

More Legislative Oversight

In the past five years, most higher education legislative activity has taken place in the states, with Republican-controlled statehouses attempting to constrain faculty tenure; end diversity, equity and inclusion programs; dictate curricula; and prohibit participation of trans students in intercollegiate athletics. Look for more of the same this year.

Now, in the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives hearing on antisemitism on campus, in which the presidents of MIT, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania were widely perceived to have testified ineptly, Congress is gearing up to wage an aggressive federal campaign against higher education, particularly elite institutions.

Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) has introduced a bill that would prevent universities from receiving any federal funding if they compel students to write DEI statements. Using rhetoric that’s become common among conservative legislators, Crenshaw said in a statement, “We can see the utter moral bankruptcy in higher education with the spread of antisemitism on college campuses. Make no mistake — the DEI bureaucracy is directly responsible for a toxic campus culture that separates everyone into oppressor vs oppressed.”

House Republicans have promised to hold more hearings on what they perceive to be multiple problems at America’s leading universities. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) recently voiced what’s been the silent part up till now, telling a meeting of business leaders that December’s hearings were just the first step in a long-term strategy to defund elite schools.

“The second step is the investigation, the subpoenas, gathering all of the documents and the records from these universities to prove the point,” Banks said in a private Zoom call, according to CNBC . “That they’re not just allowing this behavior to occur, they’re fostering it and creating an unsafe environment for Jewish students on their campus because of it.”

“And once we prove it, third, that’s when we defund these universities by cracking down on not backing their student loans, taxing their endowments and forcing the administration to actually conduct civil rights investigations,” he added.

While threats like these are not likely to find their way into law, they reflect the blood-in-the-water attitude increasingly prevalent among many lawmakers who are eager to extend their anti-higher education efforts.

Artificial Intelligence Expands

AI will continue to transform almost every aspect of daily life, and higher education will be no exception. Once preoccupied with how generative AI tools like ChatGPT would lead to an epidemic of student cheating, college faculty are now turning their attention to how AI can be used to improve teaching and personalize student learning.

Researchers are increasingly deploying AI to facilitate their investigations, and administrators are applying AI technology to a host of tasks in areas such as recruiting and admissions, student support services, retention efforts, and information technology.

The nonprofit Complete College America is forming a Council on Equitable AI in Higher Education that will represent a diverse group of higher ed stakeholders and consult with large technology companies to develop the potential of “using AI to equalize and scale access to a college degree and the accompanying individual, economic, and societal benefits.”

The explosion of AI in healthcare, climate change initiatives, energy, finance and banking and other industries will lead to more institutions offering increasingly sophisticated courses, as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in machine learning, big data and AI.

Universities will also hire more faculty with expertise in AI as they compete for federal AI funding in fields like medicine, cybersecurity, agriculture, climate change, law enforcement, mental health, material sciences, law and finance. Support for AI research is not cheap, and the build-out of its capacity will be one more area where well-resourced institutions will enjoy a pronounced advantage over their less wealthy peers.

Curricular Innovations

As more employers question the relevance of the college degree and turn away from it as an entry-level job requirement, colleges will experiment with curricular alternatives designed to enhance the baccalaureate degree’s appeal for both students and hiring managers.

Look for renewed interest in three-year undergraduate degrees. Unlike prior attempts to shorten the time it takes to earn a college degree, a new approach – the “College in 3 Exchange” – aims to not simply squeeze 120 credit hours into three years. Instead, it involves fundamentally changing the undergraduate curriculum so the total number of required credit hours is substantially reduced, sometimes to as few as 90 credit hours.

Begun in 2021, the exchange already has 17 institutions on board, designing specific undergraduate degree programs that can be completed in three years. Some options — like those at Brigham Young University-Idaho and the American Public University System — have already gained accreditors’ approval.

Colleges will also look for more ways to enrich traditional undergraduate majors with skills-oriented courses and training — sometimes in the form of supplements like industry-approved certificates, and sometimes through experiences like internships and capstone assignments that substitute for formal coursework requirements.

With surveys showing the public’s opinion of online education is improving , institutions are sure to add more programs to their online inventory. That growth is most likely at the graduate level where working-age adults constitute a sizable audience and where colleges can often offer programs that yield net revenue.

Campus Budget Woes Continue

There’s no end in sight for the deep budget deficits plaguing dozens of colleges ever since the pandemic. Throughout 2023, hardly a week went by without news of colleges ending academic programs, terminating faculty or slashing spending as they tried to close large gaps between revenues and expenses.

This year will likely see more of the same, with enrollment losses, escalating costs, and declining revenues continuing to exact their toll. And like last year, the financial crises won’t be confined only to small private colleges, regional public universities and two-year schools. Large, brand-name institutions will feel the crunch as well, exacerbated in some instances by private donor rebellions like those suffered by several universities at the end of 2023.

More colleges will face their financial brink in 2024, leading to an increase in consolidations, closures and declarations of financial exigency , all part of the most serious financial challenge higher education has experienced in decades.

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Trends for Higher Education

Trends inside higher education | spring 2024.

Integrated planning prepares your institution for change by ensuring its decisions are informed by realities in the external environment. What are key movements and trends within higher education? From addressing pandemic learning loss to grappling with generative AI in the classroom, learn the forces and changes directly impacting higher education, now and in the future. This issue curates and summarizes 40-50 trends happening outside the world of higher education that could impact colleges and universities. Each trend includes a brief summary, a footnoted source, and discussion questions to help you analyze and act on the trend. Learn more about SCUP’s Trends for Higher Education report.

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Pamela Paul

Colleges Are Putting Their Futures at Risk

By Pamela Paul

Opinion Columnist

For over a century, an understanding existed between American universities and the rest of the country.

Universities educated the nation’s future citizens in whatever ways they saw fit. Their faculty determined what kind of research to carry out and how, with the understanding that innovation drives economic progress. This gave them an essential role and stake in both a pluralistic democracy and a capitalist economy — without being subject to the whims of politics or industry.

The government helped finance universities with tax breaks and research funding. The public paid taxes and often exorbitant tuition fees. And universities enjoyed what has come to be known as academic freedom, the ability for those in higher education to operate free from external pressure.

“Academic freedom allows us to choose which areas of knowledge we seek and pursue them,” said Anna Grzymala-Busse, a professor of international studies at Stanford. “Politically, what society expects of us is to train citizens and provide economic mobility, and that has been the bedrock of political and economic support for universities. But if universities are not fulfilling these missions, and are seen as prioritizing other missions instead, that political bargain becomes very fragile.”

Her remarks came during a recent conference on civil discourse at Stanford, ranging from free expression on campus to diversity, equity and inclusion hiring statements, which I wrote about last week. But underlying all the discussions was a real fear that universities had strayed from their essential duties, imperiling the kind of academic freedom they had enjoyed for decades.

Of course, there have long been attempts at political interference in academia, with a distrust of elitism smoldering beneath the widespread disdain for the ivory tower. But in the past few years, these sentiments have boiled over into action, with universities jolted by everything from activism by its trustees to congressional investigations to the wresting of control by the state to the threatened withdrawal of government support.

The number of Republicans expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in universities plummeted to 19 percent last year, from 56 percent in 2015, according to Gallup polls, apparently due largely to a belief that universities were too liberal and were pushing a political agenda, a 2017 poll found . But it could get much worse.

“A Trump presidency with a Republican legislative majority could remake higher education as we’ve known it,” Steven Brint, a professor of sociology and public policy at the University of California, Riverside, warned last week in The Chronicle of Higher Education, citing the potential for the Department of Justice to investigate universities for admissions procedures, for example, or penalties for schools that the government determines are overly beholden to social-justice priorities. In some states, it could mean decreased funding from the state, the elimination of ethnic studies or even the requirement of patriotism oaths.

That would bump up against what many students, faculty and administrators view as the point of a college education.

“I was reading applications for my graduate program,” said Jennifer Burns , a history professor at Stanford. “The person would describe their political activism and then say, ‘And now I will continue that work through my Ph.D.’ They see academia as a natural progression.” But, she cautioned, the social justice mentality isn’t conducive to the university’s work.

“We have to keep stressing to students that there’s something to being open-ended in our work — we don’t always know where we want to go,” Burns said.

Right now, the university’s message is often the opposite. Well before the tumultuous summer of 2020, a focus on social justice permeated campuses in everything from residential housing to college reading lists.

“All of this activity would be fine — indeed, it would be fantastic — if it built in multiple perspectives,” noted Jonathan Zimmerman, author of “ Whose America: Culture Wars in the Public Schools ,” in a 2019 essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “For the most part, though, it doesn’t.”

Instead, many universities have aligned themselves politically with their most activist students. “Top universities depend on billions of dollars of public funding, in the form of research grants and loan assistance,” The Economist editorialized last week. “The steady leftward drift of their administrations has imperiled this.”

One of the starkest examples of this politicization is the raft of position statements coming from university leadership. These public statements, and the fiery battles and protests behind them, take sides on what are broadly considered to be the nation’s most sensitive and polarized subjects, whether it’s the Dobbs ruling or DACA for young immigrants, the Israel-Hamas war or Black Lives Matter.

At last month’s conference, Diego Zambrano , a professor at Stanford Law School, made the downsides of such statements clear. What, he asked, are the benefits of a university taking a position? If it’s to make the students feel good, he said, those feelings are fleeting, and perhaps not even the university’s job. If it’s to change the outcome of political events, even the most self-regarding institutions don’t imagine they will have any impact on a war halfway across the planet. The benefits, he argued, were nonexistent.

As for the cons, Zambrano continued, issuing statements tends to fuel the most intemperate speech while chilling moderate and dissenting voices. In a world constantly riled up over politics, the task of formally opining on issues would be endless. Moreover, such statements force a university to simplify complex issues. They ask university administrators, who are not hired for their moral compasses, to address in a single email thorny subjects that scholars at their own institutions spend years studying. (Some university presidents, such as Michael Schill of Northwestern, have rightly balked .) Inevitably, staking any position weakens the public’s perception of the university as independent.

The temptation for universities to take a moral stand, especially in response to overheated campus sentiment, is understandable. But it’s a trap. When universities make it their mission to do the “right” thing politically, they’re effectively telling large parts of their communities — and the polarized country they’re in partnership with — they’re wrong.

When universities become overtly political, and tilt too far toward one end of the spectrum, they’re denying students and faculty the kind of open-ended inquiry and knowledge-seeking that has long been the basis of American higher education’s success. They’re putting its future at risk.

Photographs by Ljupco and Sean Gladwell/Getty Images.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Pamela Paul is an Opinion columnist at The Times, writing about culture, politics, ideas and the way we live now.

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Aligning State Policies, Federal Law, and the Needs of Today’s Student Through a National Dual Enrollment Strategy

December 17, 2023

Title: The Next Phase of Dual Enrollment Policy: A Vision for the Field

Author: Alex Perry

Source: The College in High School Alliance and Foresight Law + Policy

The last two decades of significant growth in the number of high school students taking college courses have resulted in a new phase for dual enrollment policy. As of 2023, practitioners across the country have developed promising models for success, as exemplified by increasing enrollments at community colleges. In 2021, over 42 percent of all high school graduates in Colorado and nearly 41 percent of all high school graduates in Kentucky participated in dual credit courses. As enrollment in two-year institutions and career and technical education programs continues to grow, federal definitions, state policies, and institutional practices may need to change to reflect dual enrollment as an integrated opportunity for all students rather than a promising intervention available to few.

Recommendations from a new report by the College in High School Alliance (CHSA) for advancing dual enrollment policy at the state and federal levels are summarized below:

State level:

Setting a statewide vision for dual enrollment: Defining a clear vision for each state’s education system can demonstrate the power of dual enrollment as a strategy to expand the overall college-going population rather than to rearrange the educational experiences of existing college-pursuing students. State policymakers should not only think about dual enrollment as an option by itself but also consider the role that it can play in combination with other education strategies. Dual enrollment is a best practice within career pathways, competency-based learning, and youth apprenticeship programs, among others.

Doubling down on the equity mission: While working to close equity gaps for populations of students that have traditionally been included in state dual enrollment reporting, such as male, Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, it is important to expand the equity mission to include populations of students who might not typically be included in data collection. The report recommends the higher education policy community to think expansively and explore what interventions and policies will best help students living in rural areas, students with disabilities, English learners, and homeless and foster youth.

Focusing policy on intentional dual enrollment experiences: States are positioned to incentivize or require students to participate in dual enrollment course experiences that are part of a specific pathway or program of study. These include the potential development of model programs of study or limiting state funding for dual credits to courses that have been identified as highly transferable or components of certain pathways leading to degree attainment.

National level:

Setting a national vision for dual enrollment by raising expectations for policy support: The report highlights the need for a national vision, which can be communicated through a new federal definition of dual enrollment, that signals to practitioners which program practices align with a national strategy and are worthy of funding and policy support.

Aligning the field on key terms in policy: Dual enrollment policymakers at the national and state levels need to begin to align, starting with terminology and definitions used in policy to make it easier for students, parents, and other stakeholders to get the information they need. This can begin with adjusting state policy language to match a new national definition, one that distinguishes between the terms “dual enrollment,” “dual credit,” “concurrent enrollment,” and “early college high school.”

Examining new and emerging policy trends: Finally, the dual enrollment field needs to more deeply examine new and emerging policy trends that may support or hamper progress toward a new strategic national framework. Future federal policy changes may include addressing the growth of online dual enrollment and the rise of out-of-state degree providers, as well as expanding federal funding avenues beyond The Every Student Succeeds Act.

To read the full report by CHSA, click here . To read more about the ongoing work by the College in High School Alliance and its other policy reports and legislative proposals, click here .

—Austin Freeman

If you have any questions or comments about this blog post, please contact us .

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Discovering Hidden Barriers to Community College Enrollment and Success

When students apply to a community college, they expect enrollment to be a clear, orderly process. Unfortunately, for far too many students, it feels more like a maze, full of unknown steps, unfamiliar terminology and unexpected delays. David Bevevino of the Education Advisory Board looks at how community college student onboarding is like a game of Chutes and Ladders—and what institutions can do to change it.

Joint and Dual Degree Programs Gain Steam Worldwide

ACE’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement’s 2014 report, Mapping International Joint and Dual Degrees: U.S. Program Profiles and Perspectives explores the landscape of such programs in the United States, including characteristics and policies, academic focus areas, partner locations and programmatic challenges, and their role in broader institutional strategy and planning.

Minority Serving Institutions Perform Better Than Federal Graduation Rates Suggest

A new report out from ACE’s Center for Policy Research and Strategy aims to provide a more complete picture of the contributions MSIs make to the higher education landscape and the communities in which they reside. The upshot: Ensuring the success of students of color requires further investment in the very institutions that educate them.

Breaking News

Busting the Myth that Affordable Higher Education is an Impossible Dream 

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We all know untenable student loan debt has been commanding the news since the last election cycle. Politicians are driven by the reality that an astounding percentage of Americans feel access to quality, affordable higher education is simply out of reach.

According to a national survey by the 2022 Lumina-Gallup State of Higher Education Study , fewer than 10% of Americans not in college believe that quality, affordable higher education is available to those who want it.

A similar 9% of young people – whether enrolled in community colleges or post-secondary institutions – also feel that quality, affordable higher education is readily available to those who want it. The percentage remains the same with those who are not currently enrolled in such programs, showing that the affordability of higher education is not just experiencing a perception problem but is in the midst of a full-blown crisis of confidence.

The same study found that nearly 60% of students currently enrolled in college feel that a two-year or four-year degree is more critical for their careers than it was 20 years ago, while 30% believe it holds the same value as it did in the past. More than three-quarters of those not enrolled in school believe attaining a higher education degree is as important or more important than ever. The value of higher education has not diminished in the minds of American students and non-students.

So, given how vital education and attaining a degree are to the success and prosperity of Americans, what are universities and colleges doing to make access and affordability a priority? From the looks of it, not much.

“According to the researchers’ analysis of U.S. Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and National Center for Education Statistics data for the years 1980 to 2019, college costs have increased by 169% over the past four decades – while earnings for workers between the ages of 22 and 27 have increased by just 19%.”

Simply put, leading educational institutions are often out of reach due to the high costs. A June 2023 statewide poll suggests many Californians believe the University of California and California State University are unaffordable and that community colleges and vocational training are alternative paths to career success.

Delivering Affordable Higher Education is Feasible Delivering affordable higher education is not only feasible, but it’s also available today. At UWLA, our vision is “democratization of education,” part of our mission is to make quality higher and post-graduate education affordable and accessible to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity- especially those who must work full-time and study part-time.

As president of UWLA, I am working to bring this reality to our diverse student base in many ways.

First, we formed a for-profit organization that runs the business of education for UWLA. As such, we work continuously to keep our overhead down while providing personalized student services and high-quality faculty using a modern curriculum. We are private which allows our incentives to be focused around quality education and student success. We don’t have sports teams, nor the expensive facilities and salaries to support them.

We focus on practical, outcome-oriented education taught by esteemed faculty who are also practitioners in their field. With a student body that includes many working students, we ensure that the education provided at UWLA is more than theoretical; it’s useful.

As I often say, our UWLA students can use what they learn on Thursday at their work on Monday.

So, what have we created? With the hard work of dedicated administrators, an exceptional professional staff, and outstanding faculty members, we deliver a streamlined, high-touch learning experience that rivals institutions many times our size and cost.

We know our strengths as an educational institution, and we focus on the most meaningful things to our students. That means adding only a few extraneous studies or programs. Our students come to pursue degree completion of a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration or return to school to secure a Master of Science in Leadership, Management and Technology to advance or catalyze their career in business.

Are our programs affordable? I challenge anyone to compare our costs against a comparable education. We will show we are markedly less, even before factoring in scholarship opportunities and access to Federal Financial Aid, which we can help with. UWLA is proof positive that the myth of affordable higher education is busted. Our graduates’ continuing success proves that our approach is making a real and impactful difference in the lives of so many who wish to better themselves personally and professionally.

Since 1966, UWLA has been privileged to help launch or enhance the careers of thousands of its graduates.

– Robert Brown, Esq., President, UWLA

Four of the biggest problems facing education—and four trends that could make a difference

Eduardo velez bustillo, harry a. patrinos.

In 2022, we published, Lessons for the education sector from the COVID-19 pandemic , which was a follow up to,  Four Education Trends that Countries Everywhere Should Know About , which summarized views of education experts around the world on how to handle the most pressing issues facing the education sector then. We focused on neuroscience, the role of the private sector, education technology, inequality, and pedagogy.

Unfortunately, we think the four biggest problems facing education today in developing countries are the same ones we have identified in the last decades .

1. The learning crisis was made worse by COVID-19 school closures

Low quality instruction is a major constraint and prior to COVID-19, the learning poverty rate in low- and middle-income countries was 57% (6 out of 10 children could not read and understand basic texts by age 10). More dramatic is the case of Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate even higher at 86%. Several analyses show that the impact of the pandemic on student learning was significant, leaving students in low- and middle-income countries way behind in mathematics, reading and other subjects.  Some argue that learning poverty may be close to 70% after the pandemic , with a substantial long-term negative effect in future earnings. This generation could lose around $21 trillion in future salaries, with the vulnerable students affected the most.

2. Countries are not paying enough attention to early childhood care and education (ECCE)

At the pre-school level about two-thirds of countries do not have a proper legal framework to provide free and compulsory pre-primary education. According to UNESCO, only a minority of countries, mostly high-income, were making timely progress towards SDG4 benchmarks on early childhood indicators prior to the onset of COVID-19. And remember that ECCE is not only preparation for primary school. It can be the foundation for emotional wellbeing and learning throughout life; one of the best investments a country can make.

3. There is an inadequate supply of high-quality teachers

Low quality teaching is a huge problem and getting worse in many low- and middle-income countries.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the percentage of trained teachers fell from 84% in 2000 to 69% in 2019 . In addition, in many countries teachers are formally trained and as such qualified, but do not have the minimum pedagogical training. Globally, teachers for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are the biggest shortfalls.

4. Decision-makers are not implementing evidence-based or pro-equity policies that guarantee solid foundations

It is difficult to understand the continued focus on non-evidence-based policies when there is so much that we know now about what works. Two factors contribute to this problem. One is the short tenure that top officials have when leading education systems. Examples of countries where ministers last less than one year on average are plentiful. The second and more worrisome deals with the fact that there is little attention given to empirical evidence when designing education policies.

To help improve on these four fronts, we see four supporting trends:

1. Neuroscience should be integrated into education policies

Policies considering neuroscience can help ensure that students get proper attention early to support brain development in the first 2-3 years of life. It can also help ensure that children learn to read at the proper age so that they will be able to acquire foundational skills to learn during the primary education cycle and from there on. Inputs like micronutrients, early child stimulation for gross and fine motor skills, speech and language and playing with other children before the age of three are cost-effective ways to get proper development. Early grade reading, using the pedagogical suggestion by the Early Grade Reading Assessment model, has improved learning outcomes in many low- and middle-income countries. We now have the tools to incorporate these advances into the teaching and learning system with AI , ChatGPT , MOOCs and online tutoring.

2. Reversing learning losses at home and at school

There is a real need to address the remaining and lingering losses due to school closures because of COVID-19.  Most students living in households with incomes under the poverty line in the developing world, roughly the bottom 80% in low-income countries and the bottom 50% in middle-income countries, do not have the minimum conditions to learn at home . These students do not have access to the internet, and, often, their parents or guardians do not have the necessary schooling level or the time to help them in their learning process. Connectivity for poor households is a priority. But learning continuity also requires the presence of an adult as a facilitator—a parent, guardian, instructor, or community worker assisting the student during the learning process while schools are closed or e-learning is used.

To recover from the negative impact of the pandemic, the school system will need to develop at the student level: (i) active and reflective learning; (ii) analytical and applied skills; (iii) strong self-esteem; (iv) attitudes supportive of cooperation and solidarity; and (v) a good knowledge of the curriculum areas. At the teacher (instructor, facilitator, parent) level, the system should aim to develop a new disposition toward the role of teacher as a guide and facilitator. And finally, the system also needs to increase parental involvement in the education of their children and be active part in the solution of the children’s problems. The Escuela Nueva Learning Circles or the Pratham Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) are models that can be used.

3. Use of evidence to improve teaching and learning

We now know more about what works at scale to address the learning crisis. To help countries improve teaching and learning and make teaching an attractive profession, based on available empirical world-wide evidence , we need to improve its status, compensation policies and career progression structures; ensure pre-service education includes a strong practicum component so teachers are well equipped to transition and perform effectively in the classroom; and provide high-quality in-service professional development to ensure they keep teaching in an effective way. We also have the tools to address learning issues cost-effectively. The returns to schooling are high and increasing post-pandemic. But we also have the cost-benefit tools to make good decisions, and these suggest that structured pedagogy, teaching according to learning levels (with and without technology use) are proven effective and cost-effective .

4. The role of the private sector

When properly regulated the private sector can be an effective education provider, and it can help address the specific needs of countries. Most of the pedagogical models that have received international recognition come from the private sector. For example, the recipients of the Yidan Prize on education development are from the non-state sector experiences (Escuela Nueva, BRAC, edX, Pratham, CAMFED and New Education Initiative). In the context of the Artificial Intelligence movement, most of the tools that will revolutionize teaching and learning come from the private sector (i.e., big data, machine learning, electronic pedagogies like OER-Open Educational Resources, MOOCs, etc.). Around the world education technology start-ups are developing AI tools that may have a good potential to help improve quality of education .

After decades asking the same questions on how to improve the education systems of countries, we, finally, are finding answers that are very promising.  Governments need to be aware of this fact.

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19 Higher Education Trends for 2024: Latest Forecasts To Watch Out For

A diploma isn’t just a piece of paper that signifies the end of a student’s journey. Instead, it provides a gateway for fresh graduates to land a successful career in the corporate world, which entails higher income, more advancement opportunities, and better employment benefits . With a competitive job market affected by the pandemic, they can also learn the skills they need to strike out on their own and make their own opportunities.

This underlines the importance of understanding this generation’s key trends in higher education. After all, the higher education sector is sharing the burden of producing work-ready graduates and defining a large part of today’s workforce.

As the higher education landscape continues to evolve and take on a more transformative path, we’ll take a look at some of the most crucial education trends that are redefining education at this level. Below, you’ll see some of the global trends in higher education that you must keep tabs on.

Trends in Higher Education Table of Contents

• Affordability of College Tuition
• Discount Fees by Private Institutions
• Shifting Campus Demographics
• Accommodating Nontraditional Students
• Online Education
• International Student Recruitment
• Online Program Management Providers
• Corporate-Institution Partnerships
• Student Loans
• Increase in Capital Campaigns
• Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Competency-Based Education
• MicroMasters Programs
• Salary of College Professors
• Most to Least Popular Courses
• Higher Education by Country
• College and University Governance
• College Closures and Mergers
• Bill Gates on Higher Education

One glance at the employment rates of college graduates is enough to tell you that higher education attainment is one of the major deciding factors for employers hiring new employees. It’s simply a given that graduates have better job prospects than their undergrad counterparts.

A study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics revealed that the employment rate among people with bachelor’s or higher degrees peaked at 87%. On the other hand, employment rates for high school graduates fell to 74% (NCES, 2020). This is the underlying reason why there are 2.3 million people obtaining college degrees in a span of a year (CollegeStats).

With higher education attainment having such a substantial impact on employment prospects, more students are recognizing the need to finish a bachelor’s degree. While this explains why students continue to pursue higher education, experts point out a decline in the education quality that students get from colleges and universities.

But that doesn’t mean the higher education sector is numb to the danger signs found in particular aspects of education—college affordability, changing student profiles, the effectiveness of teaching approaches, and disruptions brought about by the pandemic. In this post, we compiled the modern trends in education that you should look out for.

1. Affordability of College Tuition

Cost is a huge factor that matters to many students who want to pursue higher education. And given the increase in demand and lack of state of funding, the cost of tuition and fees keep increasing at breakneck speed. These days, higher education institutions are charging more than twice the cost in 2008. In the states of Alabama and Arizona, for instance, tuition at public universities and colleges increased by more than 60%.

Aside from this, students have to mind the cost of boarding rooms, food, books, and other additional fees while enrolled in a college degree. For those that rely on online learning, they will have to prepare a budget for fast internet connection as well as a computer to use at home. In effect, the increasing higher education costs render most students either dropping out of college or not pursuing a degree at all.

It seems, however, that for 2021 and the next few years, college costs are dropping, with the year-over-year tuition declining by 5% for private schools and by 4% for public schools (US News, 2020). For the school year 2020-2021, tuition at private schools can cost $35,087 while it costs $9,687 for public schools (in-state).

Cost of College Education Trend Highlights

• Year-over-year tuition costs dropped by 5% at private colleges and about 4% at public colleges.
• For the school year 2020-2021, tuition at private schools can cost $35,087 while it costs $9,687 for public schools (in-state)

2. Discount Fees by Private Institutions

The National Association of College and University Business Officers, or NACUBO, revealed that incoming freshmen were offered discounts of higher than 50% by private colleges and universities for the school year 2017–18 (Inside Higher Ed, 2019). In the following school year, it even rose up to 52%. Private institutions used this as a strategy so that students can consider attending their schools. Amid the pandemic, some private colleges have also decided to place a freeze on costs or even slash tuition fees for the school year 2021-2022 to help struggling families (CNBC, 2020)

Instead of reducing the overall tuition, private institutions offer tuition fee discounts. Moreover, a psychology consultant found that 40% of students and their families would choose a school with discounted tuition over another college with lower tuition costs

This could be because higher prices are interpreted as an indication of quality. Concerning college trends in spending, many assume that the higher tuition price, the better education quality.

Discount in Education Trend Highlights

• Private institutions offer discounts on college tuition and fees.
• Discounted fees help colleges and universities retain or recruit new students.

3. Shifting Campus Demographics

More high school graduates attend colleges and universities without being held back by full-time work or family obligations. As a result, student profiles changed drastically. The pipeline of traditional students aged 18 to 22 has now become flat or decreased in higher education. And with this, student preferences and behavior have also changed. According to Generation Z statistics , the current generation is overtaking the number of Millenials on campuses.

Gen Z students are divided into several races and ethnic minorities, making their population more diverse. Furthermore, Gen Z students are more focused on their education. In fact, about 59% of high school graduates aged 18 to 20 are in college, most of them reporting that they feel a college degree is important.

With the rise of online learning in 2021, data suggests that students are both younger and older than the previous year. In a survey, 47% of school administrators said that age was the most significant trend that they have observed in online student demographics. 25% of school administrators said that they saw more adult non-traditional learners while 20% observed an increase in younger learners (BestColleges, 2020).

Thus, education leaders now take into account these changes in the demographics and exert efforts to tailor the existing educational system to the new generation’s needs.

How Generation Z Male and Female Value Education

Based on a 10-point scale.

Female in 4-year college

Male in 4-year college

Female in 2-year college

Male in 2-year college

Female not in college

Male not in college

Source: UPCEA Generation Z and Millenial Survey

Campus Demographics Trend Highlights

• Gen Z students are outnumbering Millenials in campus demographics.
• The population of Gen Z students is more diverse, comprising of several races and ethnic minorities.
• With the change in student demographics also came a shift in student preferences and behavior.

4. Accommodating Non-Traditional Students

Nontraditional students make up almost 75% of the nearly 20 million students currently enrolled in post-secondary education (NCES, 2020). More alarming than this is that 7 in 10 full-time college students also work to make ends meet (Georgetown University, 2018), This led to institutions using more diverse course content delivery methods.

The trends in higher education enrollment see a decline in traditional student enrollees. Hence, the sector continues to recruit more non-traditional students.

To accommodate the educational needs of nontraditional students, institutions gear towards a flexible learning ecosystem. This includes online platforms, such as LMS software providers , that allow flexible learning management. Such systems also accelerate course completion by offering additional courses.

Accommodating Non-Traditional Students Trend Highlights

• Almost 75% of the nearly 20 million students enrolled in higher education are nontraditional students.
• About 59% of nontraditional students have full-time jobs.

5. Online Education

Online education is one of the fastest-growing areas in education technology trends. From 33.1% in 2017, the percentage of all college students who took at least one online class rose to 34.7% the following year. Meanwhile, in the fall of 2020, 97% of college students reported switching to online instruction altogether (Education Data, 2020). With its steady, growing rates, online education remains the main driver of growth in post-secondary enrollments.

Data from various sources reveal that students show a more favorable response to online education. It brings to the table various benefits that cannot be achieved in a traditional classroom setting. For one, it gives students more flexible options, allowing them to take the courses while managing other responsibilities.

These digital learning trends in the higher education sector also signals a good time for learning management systems to expand their market to universities and college institutions.

Because of the recent student demand, there is more emphasis on online learning programs. Online education saw a growth of 15.4% in 2018, up from 14.7% in 2016, Moreover, it is predicted to increase at a CAGR of 9.23%, reaching $319.167 billion by 2025 (Research and Markets, 2020).  Recently as well, administrators at Purdue University within the transdisciplinary studies in the technology program launched a competency-based online class. Professors used recording and video conferencing tools to record online lectures that students can access anytime.

With face-to-face classes posing health risks, the rise of online learning is expected to continue while the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. The shift to online learning will also make learning institutions optimize their websites to be more mobile-friendly and to provide a good user experience overall. With students not constricted to enrolling in a particular geography, schools are redesigning their courses to be easily searchable to remain competitive (Annertech, 2020).

VR is also expected to provide immersive digital experiences as a workaround for social distancing restrictions such as conducting campus tours, open houses, and graduation ceremonies (Annertech, 2020).

Source: Internet World Stats via Statista (2020)

Online Education Trend Highlights

• In 2018, online education saw a growth of 15.4%. (Inside Higher Ed, 2018)
• The online education market is expected to reach $319.167 by 2025 (Research and Markets, 2020).
• Recent student demand puts more emphasis on the growth of online education.
• There are remarkable advancements in the quality of online education.

6. International Student Recruitment

International enrollments are not looking so good for the higher education sector as well. Different institution surveys found that there’s a decline in new international enrollments for two years in a row. Despite the higher education sector’s efforts in attracting international students, new enrollment rates fell at 5.5% at the graduate level, 6.3% at the undergraduate level, and 9.7% at the non-degree level. Furthermore, due to the pandemic, overall international student enrollment rate has dropped by 16% in 2020 (IIE, 2020).

Educational leaders point to the social and political environment in the US as partly the reason for this decline. The more restrictive policies on US visas and the administration’s take on immigration are making it a challenge for higher ed institutions to recruit more international students. With the newest policy in place, international students could easily accrue an unlawful presence in the US and be prohibited from re-entering the US for a period of 3 to 10 years. In addition to these issues, many students have also opted out of studying abroad to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19.

To battle the declining number of student enrollees, universities and colleges recruit international students more aggressively. Leveraging international student activities can help raise new revenues. Recruiting more international students and encouraging partnerships with universities abroad also raise the stature of colleges and universities to global audiences.

In addition, the recruitment of international students leads to a diversified student body. It allows new cultural contexts that can, when integrated with the current curriculum, better prepare students to compete in a globalized economy.

Source: IIE

International Student Recruitment Trend Highlights

• International recruitment of students contributes to a more diversified student body.
• However, with the ongoing pandemic, international student enrolment has plummeted by 16% in 2020 (IIE, 2020).
• News curriculums are designed to better prepare students for the global economy.

7. Online Program Management Providers

The growth of elearning software paved a new path for online program management organizations or OPMs. Universities and their corporate partners develop online courses. Meanwhile, OPMs provide the platform for students to take the classes.

Renowned universities like Harvard, Yale, NYU, and Georgetown provide online degrees through OPM providers. According to an OPM report (Huffpost, 2019) OPMs typically take 60% or more cut in tuition. As forecast, the market for OPMs and related services will soon hit almost $8 billion by 2020.

OPM Provider Trend Highlights

• Renowned universities now provide online degrees through OPMs.
• By 2020, the market for OPMs could hit almost $8 billion. (CNBC, 2019)

8. Corporate-Institution Partnerships

Institutions are now working with corporations to ensure that employee skills match their jobs. These enterprise training companies partner with universities and leverage their vast networks to help companies bridge the tech-talent gap in their workforce.

Although the uses of HR solutions include enhancing career development, higher education still serves as a better training ground for students. The likes of Pluralsight and Revature encourage university partnerships and collaboration with employers. They provide students and companies with the right programs to match their skills and needs.

Pluralsight, an online platform for software and IT developer training, utilizes its industry-updated content. With its close ties with employers, the corporation ensures success in the match. Revature, on the other hand, provides a program where students can pay back their tuition within two years after employment. This way, the needs of both students and employers are addressed through a collaborative learning management process .

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019

Corporate-School Partnership Trend Highlights

• Institutions work with corporations to address the mismatch between employer needs and worker skills.
• Enterprise training companies provide students with industry-specific educational programs.

9. Student Loans

Accumulating student loans continue to be a worrying part of college education. As higher education costs become more expensive, student loan debts climbed to an all-time high of $1.7 trillion in 2020 (Educationdata.org, 2021). Moreover, loan balances tend to be different for each state, with some states having higher unpaid balances more than others. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island emerged as the states with the highest amount of student loan balance at $38,510, $36,854, and $36,250 respectively.

According to a report by Student Loan Hero, about 69% of the graduating class in 2018 used private and/or federal loans (Student Loan Hero, 2019). And that’s not counting the additional 14% of loans that parents of college students took to fund their children’s higher education. Overall, students ended up with an average of $29,800 in debt after graduation, while their parents were left with about $35,600.

Student loan statistics in 2020 show that 44.7 million Americans currently have student loan debts, with an average amount of $32,731 (Forbes, 2020). This state of student loans in the US is further aggravated by the COVID-19pandemic, with 81% of full-time higher education students reporting they are facing more financial difficulties (Student Loan Hero, 2020).

Moreover, the public student loan forgiveness, or PSLF, has improved since its launch in 2007. The program is for government and qualifying nonprofit employees with federal student loans. In this program, the remaining loan balance will be forgiven tax-free after eligible borrowers have made 120 loan payments.

But this is only possible if the borrowers are under an income-driven repayment plan. Based on the most recent data from Federal Student Aid, 1,216 people have received loan forgiveness (Nerd Wallet, 2021).

Student Loan Trend Highlights

• Americans owed approximately $1.5 trillion in student loans. (Pew Research Institute, 2019)
• 7.63% of the total outstanding US student loans are private loans. (Nerd Wallet, 2020)
• About 1,216 people received loan forgiveness from the public student loan forgiveness. (Federal Student Aid)

10. Increase in Capital Campaigns

The decline in state funding led to higher education’s aggravated efforts in raising capital funds. In recent years, the higher education sector saw an increased focus on capital campaigning. As state funds became scarce, education leaders and policymakers train their sights on private donors.

Today, capital campaigning in the higher education sector is more ambitious than ever. For instance, the University of Michigan raised $5 billion in its fundraising campaign, which was led by 1,600 fundraising volunteers and 550 development staff members.

On a similar note, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is aiming to raise $3 billion, while the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s fundraising goal is $4.25 billion. Meanwhile, the University of Washington has a $5 billion campaign underway.

Capital Campaign Trend Highlights

• Higher education institutions are taking major strides into raising capital funds.
• As state funding continues to decline, colleges and universities turn to private donors for alternative sources.

11. Learning Management Systems

Learning management systems for schools created a more efficient system in higher education. Educators and administrators now use LMS to better develop and distribute course content. These applications are also handy in tracking student progress. Although LMS solutions mostly cater to corporations, there are now LMS platforms specific for higher education. Various LMS systems are available in the market today. Here are some examples of LMS solutions used for higher education.

Most Popular LMS Software

• TalentLMS.  This is a cloud-based LMS that simplifies how users conduct online seminars and courses. In TalentLMS reviews , the product has been lauded for its course authoring, exam engine, and registration management modules.
• SAP Litmos.  A leading LMS platform, SAP Litmos provides customizable learning paths, progress tracking, and management controls. Read more about its other features here in one of our in-depth SAP Litmos reviews .
• Docebo. In various Docebo reviews , you’ll find that it is a leading elearning solution provider with many comprehensive features. Core capabilities include a course catalog, enrollment procedures, and certificates.
• iSpring Learn LMS. This system is a straightforward and easy-to-use platform for LMS hosting, according to several iSpring Learn LMS reviews . Its features include completion tracking, training metrics, and Smart Groups.
• LearnUpon.  A web-based LMS that helps educational institutions and businesses keep track of learning and knowledge building. Numerous LearnUpon reviews praise the platform for its comprehensive features including gamification and automated certifications.

Learning Management Systems Trend Highlights

• The higher education system uses LMS platforms to easily deliver course contents to students.
• LMS solutions are widely used by corporations. However, there are specific platforms that best suit the higher education sector.

12. Competency-Based Education

The emerging trend of using CBE curricula in the higher education sector offers a new value proposition for many institutions. By using a syllabus that specifically targets competencies, students need to master all courses or programs to advance from one unit to another. It offers a wide range of benefits, such as improved completion rates and easier access to the programs, for nontraditional learners.

In a recent survey by the American Institutes for Research, 51% of institutions have reported adopting CBE while 23% have reported being interested in CBE, with 15% expressing no interest. Moreover, about 11% of institutions are found to be offering at least one full CBE program. In combination, there were 588 programs currently offered by these institutions, with 492 of these undergraduate programs and 96 graduate programs.

These numbers confirm an increase in the number of CBE programs offered in colleges and universities. It’s a popular vote for an approach to align student knowledge and skills, design programs based on employer needs, and personalize courses based on the student’s learning pace.

Competency-Based Education Trend Highlights

• Studies reveal an increase in the number of CBE programs.
• In 2019, about 51% of institutions are already using CBE curriculum. (Postsecondary CBE, 2019)

13. MicroMasters Programs

A MicroMasters program is a graduate-level course that top universities offer exclusively via online portals. In essence, these programs are equal to master’s degree programs and geared toward specific studies and career topics. A wide range of colleges and universities have already started offering these programs, including the University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Georgia Tech, MIT, and the University System of Maryland.

Taking up a MicroMasters degree typically costs between $600 to $1,500. These courses are offered fully online either as self-paced or instructor-led. And since MicroMasters programs are offered by the top universities, the programs are recognized by some of the top companies in the world.

In 2018, the total number of students who registered in MicroMasters programs at edX surged to 1.7 million, and the number of programs offered rose from 1 to 46 in the same year.

MicroMasters Programs Trend Highlights

• Top universities now offer MicroMasters program for students who wish to take their educational attainment to the master’s degree level.
• University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Georgia Tech, and MIT offer students MicroMasters programs.

14. Salary of College Professors

According to Salary.com, the average salary of college professors in the US is $152,327 ( Salary.com , 2021) . For most popular college professor positions, salary ranges between $72,448 and $232,206.

But to earn a position in the academic field, it takes at least eight years of post-doctoral education and work experience. Moreover, instructors with several years of non-academic professional experience have greater chances of being university professors.

It’s for these reasons that the highest-paid professors are mostly found in prestigious private universities like Columbia, Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard (AAUP, 2020). These professors are commanding continuous career and educational growth in the academic field.

Source: American Association of University Professors Faculty Compensation Survey

College Profession Salary Trend Highlights

• Most of the highest-paid professors are teaching at prestigious private universities.
• As of January 2021, the average salary of college professors is $152,327. (Salary.com, 2021)

15. Most to Least Popular Courses

A college degree leads to more opportunities career-wise. Thus, for many students, choosing a course in college takes a lot of preparation and consideration. According to the US Department of Education, the top factors affecting students’ college course choice include academic quality, having the desired program of study, and job placement (NCES, 2018).

Most popular college majors in 2019 for students following lucrative career goals (Kiplinger, 2019):

• Electrical engineering
• Computer engineering
• Chemical engineering
• Civil engineering
• Email templates
• Biomedical engineering
• Computer science
• Construction management
• Mechanical engineering
• Petroleum engineering

16. Higher Education by Country

Teaching skills, principles, and rules of education influence a country’s higher education performance. In addition, evaluation skills and appropriate educational materials make a difference in a country’s education quality. Thankfully, many countries have made huge strides in this respect.

Each country invests in its education system in the hopes that more graduates will soon move their economies to greater heights. According to QS Higher Education System Strength Rankings, the US tops the list of countries providing the best higher education quality. Meanwhile, the UK and Australia rank second and third places, respectively. This is based on system strength, access, flagship institution, and economic context.

Top countries delivering the best higher education quality and systems:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Netherlands
• South Korea

17. College and University Governance

The year 2019 in the higher education sector has been filled with headlines of presidential departures. In one instance, four university presidents left their respective institutions in a single week.

As the years went by, the average tenure of college presidents decreased. From seven years in the past, it has now become five years or even less. This is because of the increasing demands and stressors that college presidents need to deal with. These include state funding, declining enrollment, and changing student demographics.

Meanwhile, according to data published by the American Council on Education in 2017, college presidents served an average of  6.5 years in the office. This is relatively lower compared to the 7-year average in 2011 and 8.5-year average in 2006.

Sorce: American Council on Education

University Governance Trend Highlights

• 2017 data reveals that presidents served an average of  6.5 years in the office. (American Council on Education)
• The average tenure of college presidents has drastically decreased.
• In a single week in June 2019, four university presidents left their respective posts.

18. College Closures and Mergers

The number of higher education institutions shutting down continues to trend upwards. Despite the underlined importance of higher education attainment, there are several factors that keep threatening the financial health of smaller institutions. In New England and the Midwest, a number of colleges and universities have already shut their doors in the previous year. Pre-pandemic studies have predicted that about 15 more private colleges were to close down in 2020 but with the current state of COVID-19, this figure is said to be much higher.

In one Ernst & Young report, small colleges were found to be more vulnerable to critical, strategic challenges than institutions that had over 1,000 enrollments. Decline in enrollment, increased regulation, tight budgets, and lack of state funding are some of the factors contributing to closures of colleges and campuses all over the world.

As an effort to battle the risk of closures, policymakers look into establishing or strengthening the financial monitoring system of their institutions.

College Closures and Mergers Trend Highlights

• Smaller colleges and universities continue to face the threat of closing down.
• Experts predict that more institutions this year are bound to close or merge with bigger institutions.

19. Bill Gates on Higher Education

Since the year 2000, Bill Gates has been investing in education. He and his wife believed that they could do something about the disparity between post-secondary success and achievements among students of color and low-income students. This led to the establishment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Gates Foundation started a commission to determine the value of a college degree or certificate.  Correspondingly, the Postsecondary Value Commission aims to provide a measurement tool to determine the economic payoff of certain degrees.

In addition, the commission will consider various factors affecting higher education. These include economic factors and post-college earnings, as well as the differences in earnings by degree type, student debt, and economic mobility.

Bill Gates on Education Trend Highlights

• The Gates Foundation recently started the Postsecondary Value Commission to determine the value of a college degree.
• The Postsecondary Value Commission uses measurement tools to determine the economic payoff of college degrees.

Monitoring the Trends in Higher Education

The current trends in higher education give us a partial view of what the future has in store for those aspiring to further their education at this level. Some issues need addressing, and actions must be performed for better outcomes. For instance, technological advancements paved the way for learning management system platforms to address some of the changing demands of the education sector. Developments like this provide more avenues for students and learners to advance their professions.

What’s more pressing is how education quality today stands to influence the future workforce. As it is, more corporations are already taking active measures to address employee skill mismatch. By working with educational institutions, corporations provide industry-specific courses to produce highly skilled graduates. This thoughtful matching of courses and industry needs ensures that graduates need not worry about landing jobs for what they spent hours studying for. This ensures that the new wave of employees is rightfully skilled for their jobs and prepares them for a tight job market that has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. And in case you need a hand in preparing new employees, you can read our guide to efficient employee onboarding .

References:

• 2019 state of the field: Postsecondary CBE in the US. (2019). Postsecondary Competency Based Education .
• 2019-20 faculty compensation survey results. (2020). AAUP .
• 2020 online education trends report. (2020). BestColleges.com .
• American council on education. (n.d.). American Council on Education .
• Carey, K. (2019, April 1). The corporations devouring American colleges. HuffPost Highline .
• Carnevale, A. P., & Smith, N. (2018). Balancing work & learning: Implications for low-income students. CEW Georgetown .
• Characteristics of postsecondary students. (2020, April). National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) .
• Cilluffo, A. (2019, August 13). 5 facts about student loans. Pew Research Center .
• College by the numbers. (n.d.). CollegeStats.org .
• College professor salaries by education, experience, location and more. (2021, February 26). Salary.com .
• Dickler, J. (2021, January 14). Amid the Covid crisis, this college is cutting tuition in half next year. CNBC .
• Distance learning statistics [2020]: Online education trends. (2020, April 12). EducationData .
• Factors that influence student college choice. (2018, November). National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) .
• Fall international enrollments snapshot reports. (2020, November). Institute of International Education (IIE) .
• Fast facts: Employment rates of college students. (2020). NCES .
• Friedman, Z. (2020, February 3). Student loan debt statistics in 2020: A record $1.6 trillion. Forbes .
• Getting ready for college can be easier than you think. (n.d.). Federal Student Aid .
• Helhoski, A. (2021, January 26). Public service loan forgiveness: What it is, how it works. NerdWallet .
• Helhoski, A., & Lane, R. (2020, November 18). 2020 student loan debt statistics. NerdWallet .
• Lederman, D. (2018, November 7). New data: Online enrollments grow, and share of overall enrollment grows faster. Inside Higher Ed .
• My Finance Academy. (2019, October 4). Student loans: Stop stressing, start planning. PNC Insights .
• Powell, F., & Kerr, E. (2020, September 14). See the average college tuition in 2020-2021. US News & World Report .
• Power, S. (2020, August 26). Digital trends in higher education. Annertech .
• Rapacon, S. (2019, March 29). 25 best college majors for a lucrative career. Kiplinger .
• Research & Markets Ltd. (2020). Global online education market – Forecasts from 2020 to 2025. Research and Markets .
• Reuters. (2019, July 26). Pearson revival on track as shift to digital pays off. CNBC .
• Student Loan Hero. (2020, April 15). 4 out of 5 college students face financial Troubles due to coronavirus pandemic. Cision .
• Total student loan debt [2021]: Federal vs private (by year). (2021, March 18). EducationData .
• Valbrun, M. (2019, May 10). NACUBO report shows tuition-discounting trend continuing unabated. Inside Higher Ed .

By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.

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News & Insights

Fed's balancing act could see June rate cut in play even with sticky inflation

March 29, 2024 — 06:00 am EDT

Written by Howard Schneider for Reuters  ->

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says the central bank is not growing more tolerant of higher inflation even though the latest policymaker projections raised the inflation outlook for the year without triggering a tougher monetary-policy response.

But former Fed officials and other analysts see Powell nevertheless approaching a difficult moment trying to reconcile competing economic risks, a divided group of Fed policymakers, and a public now expecting interest rate cuts to start in June.

Upcoming data may well support a June rate reduction if inflation declines convincingly towards the Fed's 2% target between now and then, resuming a trend that encouraged policymakers last year to cap the federal funds rate at the current 5.25%-5.50% and lay the groundwork for easing to begin this year. Others see a slowing economy and weakening job growth on the horizon, pushing the Fed to cut in order to support the labor market.

Yet even if inflation proves more persistent than expected in coming weeks and the economy remains strong, the Fed could still proceed with a June cut by framing it as a potentially one-off adjustment rather than the locked-in beginning of a series of reductions, former Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, now a global economic adviser to bond giant PIMCO, wrote this week in assessing the pivotal moment central banks face in their policy communications.

The upfront justification of rate cuts expected to start this summer, Clarida said, would be that policymakers are simply keeping rates in step with the decline in inflation seen since last year, and could cut further as long as inflation continued to fall.

But "if inflation...does not follow the forecasts and becomes entrenched at a plausible 2.5%...the central banks would likely pause their rate cut cycles," Clarida wrote, and depend "on their belief that by keeping policy restrictive long enough, they can credibly forecast inflation returning (eventually) to the 2% target."

An initial cut, explained with language that tilts towards suspending further reductions if inflation does not behave as expected, would hedge the risks facing both sides of the Fed's employment and inflation goals, and assuage the concerns of Fed officials worried most about damaging the current expansion as well as those worried most about embedded inflation.

'SOMETIMES BUMPY'

It would also throw a kink into expectations that 2024 will be the year when the Fed's record-setting inflation battle ends in a steady succession of rate cuts and continued economic growth.

Recent comments from Fed officials have put divergent views on display, with Fed Governor Christopher Waller saying Wednesday he would support keeping policy tighter than expected if inflation data is not encouraging, and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee saying earlier in the week recent high inflation readings don't undercut the trend towards easing price pressures.

Powell will update his views in an appearance Friday at the San Francisco Fed that will follow the release of new inflation data for February.

At his press conference after last week's policy meeting, he said recent, more elevated price data "haven't really changed the overall story, which is that of inflation moving down gradually on a sometimes-bumpy road toward 2%," comments that left expectations for a June rate cut intact.

Part of that narrative appears driven by policymakers' belief the economy is in a rare moment when the forces that can sometimes disrupt central bankers' best laid plans have been working in the Fed's favor.

Productivity has been growing at a surprising clip, allowing the economy to grow fast without adding to price pressures; a jump in the labor force has also helped the unemployment rate stay low without driving up wages . The Fed's most recent set of economic projections continued that rosy view of the world, with faster economic growth and a slightly lower unemployment rate than anticipated as of December, and inflation still falling to the 2% target over the next two years though at a slightly slower pace.

Skepticism about that view is likely to grow, however, if Friday's data and other incoming inflation figures are higher than anticipated - and not just from steady inflation hawks like Waller but from others as well, like Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, a voter this year on interest rate policy.

In comments to reporters last week, Bostic said he had already scaled back his expectations for 2024 from a half-point reduction in the policy rate to a quarter point cut, "and I'm looking sort of later in the year than I might have not otherwise" to approve it.

Upcoming inflation and economic data could well sway policymakers in either direction.

Recent projections showed a group that was sharply divided. While the baseline remained intact at three quarter-point rate cuts this year, the split was 10 to 9 between those policymakers seeing at least that many, and those seeing less easing ahead.

But they were also tightly clustered. With 14 of 19 officials seeing either two or three rate cuts this year, the consensus view could easily shift.

In an analysis for Evercore ISI using methods employed by Fed staff, former top Fed economist John Roberts wrote this week the outlook at this point hinges on whether policymakers dismiss the high inflation readings of January and February as "noise," or as evidence price pressures are receding more slowly - with the one view arguing for three or perhaps even four rate cuts this year, and the other only two.

At this point, he said, faith in disinflation, driven by a sense the economy can grow more without higher prices, appears to be trumping a more hawkish view of the world.

The core of policymakers "appears to be treating the bad news on inflation in January and February as a one-off," Roberts wrote, an interpretation consistent with both an optimistic view of the economy and easier policy ahead.

Higher for longer? Higher for longer? https://tmsnrt.rs/41d2UWm

Rates and inflation Rates and inflation https://tmsnrt.rs/3U8HdD2

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci)

(( [email protected] ; +1 202 789 8010;))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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An Open Comparative Study of the Effectiveness and Incomparable Study of the Immunogenicity and Safety of the Vaccine (CoviVac) for Adults Aged 60 Years and Older

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Inclusion Criteria:

Volunteers must meet the following inclusion criteria:

Type of participants

• Healthy volunteers or volunteers with a history of stable diseases that do not meet any of the criteria for non-inclusion in the study.

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• Written informed consent of volunteers to participate in a clinical trial
• Volunteers who are able to fulfill the Protocol requirements (i.e., fill out a self-observation Diary, come to control visits).

Exclusion Criteria:

SARS-CoV-2 infection • A case of established COVID-19 disease confirmed by PCR and/or ELISA in the last 6 months.

Diseases or medical conditions

• Serious post-vaccination reaction (temperature above 40 C, hyperemia or edema more than 8 cm in diameter) or complication (collapse or shock-like condition that developed within 48 hours after vaccination; convulsions, accompanied or not accompanied by a feverish state) to any previous vaccination.
• Burdened allergic history (anaphylactic shock, Quincke's edema, polymorphic exudative eczema, serum sickness in the anamnesis, hypersensitivity or allergic reactions to the introduction of any vaccines in the anamnesis, known allergic reactions to vaccine components, etc.).
• Guillain-Barre syndrome (acute polyradiculitis) in the anamnesis.
• The axillary temperature at the time of vaccination is more than 37.0 ° C.
• Acute infectious diseases (recovery earlier than 4 weeks before vaccination) according to anamnesis.
• Donation of blood or plasma (in the amount of 450 ml or more) less than 2 months before inclusion in the study.
• Severe and/or uncontrolled diseases of the cardiovascular, bronchopulmonary, neuroendocrine systems, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, hematopoietic, immune systems.
• Is registered at the dispensary for tuberculosis, leukemia, oncological diseases, autoimmune diseases.
• Any confirmed or suspected immunosuppressive or immunodeficiency condition in the anamnesis.
• Splenectomy in the anamnesis.
• Neutropenia (decrease in the absolute number of neutrophils less than 1000/mm3), agranulocytosis, significant blood loss, severe anemia (hemoglobin less than 80 g/l) according to anamnesis.
• Anorexia according to anamnesis.

Prior or concomitant therapy

• Vaccination with any vaccine carried out within 30 days before vaccination / the first dose of the studied vaccine or planned administration within 30 days after vaccination / the last dose of the studied vaccine.
• Prior vaccination with an experimental or registered vaccine that may affect the interpretation of the study data (any coronavirus or SARS vaccines).
• Long-term use (more than 14 days) of immunosuppressants or other immunomodulatory drugs (immunoregulatory peptides, cytokines, interferons, immune system effector proteins (immunoglobulins), interferon inducers (cycloferon) during the six months preceding the study, according to anamnesis.
• Treatment with systemic glucocorticosteroids (≥ 20 mg of prednisone, or an analog, for more than 15 days during the last month).
• Volunteers who received immunoglobulin preparations or blood transfusion during the last 3 months prior to the start of the study according to anamnesis.

Other non-inclusion criteria

• Participation in any other clinical trial within the last 3 months.

Exclusion criteria:

• Withdrawal of Informed consent by a volunteer;
• The volunteer was included in violation of the inclusion/non-inclusion criteria of the Protocol;
• Any condition of a volunteer that requires, in the reasoned opinion of a medical researcher, the withdrawal of a volunteer from the study;
• Taking unauthorized medications (see section 6.2);
• The volunteer refuses to cooperate or is undisciplined (for example, failure to attend a scheduled visit without warning the researcher and/or loss of communication with the volunteer), or dropped out of observation;
• For administrative reasons (termination of the study by the Sponsor or regulatory authorities), as well as in case of gross violations of the Protocol that may affect the results of the study.
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Troubling trends in midlife mortality in the US and UK

A new study by researchers at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS) and Princeton University reveals that US working-age adults are dying at higher rates than their peers in high-income countries; the UK is also falling behind. The study is published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology .

Using annual mortality data from the World Health Organization Mortality Database, the study compared trends in midlife mortality for adults aged 25-64 years between 1990 and 2019 across 15 major causes of death in 18 high-income countries, including the US and UK, and seven Central and Eastern European countries.

Over the past three decades, the study found that most of these countries have experienced significant declines in midlife mortality from all possible causes of death, known as all-cause mortality. US improvements, however, were slower and interrupted by recent periods of stalling and reversals, depending on age and sex. As a result, by 2019, the US saw all-cause mortality rates that were 2.5 times higher than the average of other high-income countries studied.

Worsening midlife mortality in the US was driven by several causes of death, including highly preventable ones such as transport accidents, homicide, suicide and drug overdoses. For example, drug-related deaths in the US increased up to 10-fold (depending on sex and age group combination) between 2000 and 2019, diverging tremendously from other countries.

Dr Katarzyna Doniec, corresponding author of the study and Postdoctoral Researcher at LCDS and the Demographic Science Unit said, 'Over the past three decades midlife mortality in the US has worsened significantly compared to other high-income countries, and for the younger 25 to 44 year old age-group in 2019 it even surpassed midlife mortality rates for Central and Eastern European countries. This is surprising, given that not so long ago some of these countries experienced high levels of working-age mortality, resulting from the post-socialist crisis of the 1990s.'

The study highlights the health disadvantage of younger US females aged 25-44 years old who were the only group across the 25 countries studied to experience higher mortality rates in 2019 than in 1990.

The UK is also falling behind its high-income peers with midlife mortality increasing for people aged 45-54, and death rates among 25-54 year olds stagnating instead of improving. Midlife mortality among 25-44 year olds also rose in Canada since 2013 alongside small increases for males of the same age range in Poland and Sweden, although these increases were far smaller than in the US.

While the UK performed relatively well on external causes of death such as suicide, homicide and traffic accidents, this was countered by stalling improvements in cardiovascular disease and cancer, and increasing drug deaths. The study also found that by 2019 younger females (25-44 year olds) in the UK fared worse than all high-income peers, except the US, and even some of the Central and Eastern European countries.

Professor Jennifer Dowd, lead author and Deputy Director of LCDS and the Demographic Science Unit said, 'Our study adds to the evidence that UK mortality is increasingly diverging from its high-income peers, especially for younger women. The causes of this worsening health will be important to understand going forward.'

The study concludes that mortality declines witnessed in other high-income countries imply significant room for mortality improvement in both the US and UK. The study did not cover the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the life expectancy gap between the US and high-income countries widened further.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Oxford . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Jennifer Beam Dowd, Katarzyna Doniec, Luyin Zhang, Andrea Tilstra. US exceptionalism? International trends in midlife mortality . International Journal of Epidemiology , 2024; 53 (2) DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyae024

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