BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Multiple media reports appeared last week about the efforts by American cities, backed by their state governments, to lure the merchandizing giant Amazon’s second global headquarters to their regions. The company will entertain proposals until October 19. Amazon set general parameters and has a history in Seattle that forecasts what mix…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL The first indications are in on how the academic year is likely to go. In the pomp and ceremony that surrounds the opening of the school year, deep concerns emerge behind-the-scenes in all but the best endowed institutions as the numbers come in. There are no alternative facts to hide what…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Brandon Busteed, the executive director for education and workforce development at Gallup, wrote a stimulating and thought provoking op ed earlier this month. The article’s title captured Busteed’s summary opinion: It’s Time for Elite Universities to Lead in Non-Elite Ways. Mr. Busteed argued that America’s colleges and universities have traditionally followed…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL At the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in Minneapolis last week, there was a good deal of attention paid to how higher education should address the steady decline in support for America’s colleges and universities among consumers (that is, students and families) and…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In many respects, what a college or university business officer (CBO) thinks about the health of higher education says more about the vitality and sustainability of America’s colleges and universities than the opinions of any other group surveyed. The reasoning is simple. The business officers know where the money comes from…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Writing in a recent front-page story in the Boston Globe, Deirdre Fernandez reported that Merrimack College “has recalibrated its approach to move away from the traditional liberal arts offering – and the strategy is working.” Ms. Fernandez noted that Merrimack is among a handful of small private colleges that have avoided drastic…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL As colleges lay out their strategies to become more sustainable over the long term, there are uncertainties that can dramatically affect their abilities to do so. Some are programmatic, based upon unpredictable market conditions. Others rely on personnel decisions that shape an institution’s ability to be both flexible and creative. A…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL As enrollment continues to soften at four-year residential colleges, college administrators must increasingly justify the philosophies behind and the costs associated with them. It’s a sad commentary when colleges must defend what was once perceived to be the best justification for students to attend them. The older argument fell along these…
Athletics contribute enormously to college life. They provide a unifying force across the campus community in which the college’s principal stakeholders – faculty, students, staff, alumni, parents, donors, and the community – can rally with pride in support of the institution. Athletics are often the public face of a college. At the largest institutions, this…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL The range and scope of academic programs in higher education has become increasingly complex. New programs emerge almost daily to adjust to consumer demands and workforce needs. Applicants can easily become confused as they attempt to judge quality, complexity, cost, and a return on investment. The result is often a mishmash…