Recently, Carnegie hosted a webinar with leaders of national higher education associations for a candid discussion about the demands of the moment and how leaders can navigate the uncertainty while fulfilling the mission of higher education. We opened the conversation to our attendees to ask questions directly to our hosts and panelists.
Our panelists couldn’t get to all of the amazing, thoughtful questions posed during the event. We’ve compiled some of them here with answers from our hosts, Shankar Prasad and Emma Jones, as well as some of our favorite quotes from our panelists.
*Questions have been edited for length and clarity. Some similar questions have been combined.
Q: Are there any conversations happening about the threat of losing some of our brightest faculty and student researchers to universities in China, Europe, Canada, etc? What strategies are US universities considering to support international students?
A: There are over 1.1 million international students currently studying in the United States. They make up a crucial part of our campus communities and, for many schools, are also an important source of revenue. Preliminary research suggests global attitudes about studying in the U.S. could be shifting with changes in visa regulations and immigration. A report from Nature found that U.S. scientists submitted 32% more applications abroad than this time last year.
Foreign institutions have noticed this, and some are offering incentives to bring students (specifically research and graduate students) abroad. The European Union announced an investment of more than 500 million euros to retain and attract new scientists. Schools in Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, and Malaysia are positioning themselves as options for international students, with some, like Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, offering specific transfer invitations to Harvard students.
We know colleges and universities are struggling to navigate international student enrollment and success amidst these significant challenges. In our recent blog post, Navigating Uncertainty in Higher Ed: Practical Strategies to Support and Sustain International Student Enrollment, we outlined several strategies institutions can consider to better support international students during this time. These include strengthening communication and trust with current and prospective students through regular updates, dedicated points of contact, and greater clarity around visa policies and institutional support.
We also recommend revisiting admissions and enrollment processes to allow for more flexibility, including options for deferral and staggered start dates. Other approaches include exploring partnerships with international campuses or trusted global partners to offer remote-start, online, or satellite programs for students unable to travel to the U.S. And while virtual programs can’t fully replicate the on-campus experience, they can play a long-term role in expanding accessibility and building resilience into international enrollment strategies.
Q: How can we begin to shift the conversation to the benefits of higher education?
A: There’s no question that the current moment is further affecting the public perception of higher education. We know how valuable higher education is; our challenge is breaking through the noise to combat the opposing narrative.
One way to shift the conversation is through building a strong brand strategy with a compelling value proposition. Continuing to elevate stories of success can help. Market research on the perceived value of higher education can also help guide the development of messaging and market-specific strategy.
Another opportunity lies in shifting the voice behind the message. One of the most resonant insights from the webinar was the power of going local. When mayors, employers, school superintendents, and nonprofit leaders speak to the role of colleges and universities as anchor institutions—fueling local economies, developing talent pipelines, improving quality of life—the message carries more weight. It’s one thing for a university to say it matters. It’s another for the community to say it can’t thrive without it.
“When you hear policy makers talk about what the biggest challenges they face, it's tax revenue, it’s unemployment, it’s incarceration rates and related costs, it's health care and related costs, it's public support programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Every single one of those improve when an individual has a college degree. [...] We've got to quit talking about higher education as an expense and talk about it as an investment. It's an investment in the individual, it's an investment in the family, it's an investment in the community, and it's an investment in this entire country. We've got to reframe that conversation.” - Charles L. Welch | President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Q: There are many students out there who did not complete a degree, have debt, and feel disenfranchised with higher ed. If we make it through to the other side of this, how can we ensure we don’t end up in this same situation?
A: Higher education isn’t perfect. Many of higher education’s critics point to aspects of our industry that are in dire need of reform. Student debt, in particular, has soured a lot of people’s opinion about college.
A greater focus on student success is key to ensuring we don’t repeat the same patterns. That means investing in programming that removes friction, identifying students who may be at risk, being thoughtful about financial aid and transparent about the financial burden, and enrolling students who are positioned to thrive—academically, socially, and financially—because they feel a true sense of belonging.
And while there are foundational principles that support student success, implementation needs to be carefully tailored to the needs of different student groups—whether they’re adult learners, certificate students, online students, commuter students, or transfer students. The political landscape may shift, but student outcomes will remain central to how higher education is evaluated.
“We in higher education need to continue to ask how we can serve the country. I think we need to more overtly ask how we can serve the country and then listen to answers. Higher ed has had so many important roles in serving this nation in a variety of ways, economically, in national security, in public health. I think we need to keep asking ourselves and asking the public what can we do, what can we do better, what can we do more or less of, that would help advance our national interests.” - Barbara Snyder | President, Association of American Universities
Q: Any bright spots? What’s going right in higher ed right now?
A: In May, millions of students graduated with a degree. A recent poll from Gallup/Lumina found that people still believe in the power of a degree. Enrollment rates are also beginning to bounce back from historic lows during COVID. Overall enrollment grew by 3.2% for the second spring semester in a row, largely driven by huge growth in community college and vocational program enrollment.
And campuses are still providing community and education. West Valley College in California is launching a universal free meal program in the fall to combat food insecurity. After the floods in North Carolina, Warren Wilson College community members hosted a drive that donated over 1,000 instruments to local musicians who lost their instruments in the disaster.
At the University of Maryland, Kermit the Frog gave a commencement address to the Class of 2025. The famous green frog told graduates, “Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side, because life is better when we leap together.”
Overall, as Emma Jones shared in her recent blog Leading With Hope: Celebrating Leadership In Higher Education, it’s critical that those of us leading and serving in higher education right now remember that higher education is a key pillar of our society and our democracy, and will without doubt emerge from this period of time having evolved to meet a new and different future. It’s incumbent upon us all to lead with hope and keep our apertures open to envision that new future.
“I want to see us envisioning what are the universities and the colleges we want to build for the next generation. We know there are problems, we know there is work to make individual institutions more successful, we know there are changes that have to happen. Let's use this time to think about better ways we can meet our mission and the promise of American higher education.” - Marjorie Hass | President, Council of Independent Colleges
Watch the Complete Conversation
Watch the full webinar and hear all the amazing questions we answered live. To hear more from Carnegie’s experts on how we face the current moment in higher education, check out our blog series: “Higher Ed + Politics: Meeting the Moment.”
This blog was written by the Chief Strategy Officer, Shankar Prasad, and Executive Vice President, Credo: Powered by Carnegie, Emma Jones.