Scaling higher education is no longer a theoretical strategy. As the sector moves deeper into consolidation, institutional leaders need to confront whether their operating models, credential structures, partnerships, and delivery systems are built for the market ahead.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Stephen Spinelli, President of Babson College, about how an entrepreneurial mindset can help higher education respond to consolidation, AI disruption, and changing learner expectations.

Drawing from his experience as co-founder of Jiffy Lube International and president of one of the nation's leading entrepreneurship institutions, Spinelli explains why higher education's anti-scale culture has become a strategic problem. He argues that demand for learning is growing, but the sector's delivery model has not kept pace with what students, employers, and adult learners now need.

The conversation covers how AI is changing the economics of small-unit, high-quality education, why credentials are likely to become more modular and measurable, and how partnerships with other institutions and industry will shape the next era of higher education. Spinelli also outlines why strategy must be tied to action, accountability, and institutional values that do not shift with every market signal.

This episode is especially relevant for presidents, boards, and senior leaders working through questions of scale, consolidation, strategic partnerships, AI-enabled learning, and long-term institutional relevance.

• Why higher education is showing classic signs of market consolidation
• How anti-scale thinking limits institutional durability and adaptability
• Why demand for learning is growing while delivery models lag behind
• How agentic AI changes the economics of small-unit education
• Why credentials may become smaller, more measurable, and more industry-aligned
• How strategic partnerships may extend beyond institutions into corporate and industry networks
• Why lifelong learner relationships may become a new revenue and relevance model
• How quarterly board-level strategic execution reviews keep institutions accountable
• Why liberal arts capabilities matter more in an AI-enabled environment

• Jiffy Lube's early growth model and what it taught Spinelli about scale
• Babson's shift from entrepreneurship to entrepreneurial leadership
• Babson's network of 45 or 46 partner schools building entrepreneurial leadership capacity
• A group of seven New England institutions exploring partnership models to save resources
• AI-supported teaching models that could allow one expert to reach far more learners
• The doctor, lawyer, educator relationship model for lifelong learning

Three Key Takeaways for Higher Education Leadership

1. Institutions need a crisp and understandable value proposition that clearly explains why they exist and what they believe.
2. Mission and values must drive strategy so institutions can adapt their actions without abandoning their core purpose.
3. Strategic plans must be actionable, measurable, and reviewed regularly by the board so they inform decisions instead of sitting unused.

This episode offers a direct look at what higher education leaders need to confront as consolidation, AI, modular learning, and partnership-driven delivery reshape the sector.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/scaling-higher-education-entrepreneurial-approach/

#HigherEducation #HigherEducationLeadership #HigherEducationPodcast

International student enrollment in the United States reached record highs in 2024–2025, followed by a sharp and uneven decline heading into 2025–2026. While top-tier institutions continue to attract global talent, regional and private institutions are facing growing pressure as visa restrictions, geopolitical dynamics, and shifting perceptions of the U.S. reshape the enrollment landscape.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Shaun Carver, Executive Director of UC Berkeley's International House, about how institutions must rethink international enrollment strategy in response to these structural changes. Drawing on more than two decades of experience in international education, Carver explains why the traditional model of bringing students to U.S. campuses is no longer sufficient—and what institutions can do to remain competitive.

This conversation explores how global competition, parental decision-making, and policy shifts are influencing enrollment patterns, and why institutions must begin thinking beyond geographic boundaries to sustain international engagement.

Topics Covered:

• Why international enrollment declines are impacting institutions unevenly
• How global brand strength influences student decision-making
• Why undergraduate international enrollment is more vulnerable than graduate programs
• The role of parental perception in international student recruitment
• Why universities are exploring global delivery models and partnerships
• How foreign governments are funding international campus expansion
• The broader economic and workforce impact of international students
• Why institutional leadership must advocate for international students

Real-World Examples Discussed:

• UC Berkeley increasing international enrollment despite broader national declines
• International House's model of integrating students from over 80 nationalities
• Countries like Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia investing in global education hubs
• Students choosing Canada, the UK, and Australia over U.S. regional institutions
• The long-term impact of international students on innovation and workforce development

Three Key Takeaways for Leadership:

1. 1. Universities should maintain institutional neutrality and create environments where all viewpoints are welcome and can be examined through civil discourse.
   2. Institutional leaders must actively advocate for international students, clearly communicating their economic, academic, and societal contributions.
   3. Regional and smaller institutions should position themselves as safe, supportive environments that appeal to international students and their families.

This episode provides a clear view into how international enrollment is being reshaped and what institutional leaders must do to adapt in a more competitive and constrained global environment.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/international-enrollment-strategy-for-regional-and-private-colleges/

#HigherEducation #InternationalStudents #EnrollmentStrategy

Most institutions offer experiential learning. Few deliver it. The gap between the claim and the outcome is structural, and closing it requires more than a better course design.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Chris Crittenden, founder of Sandbox, a for-credit startup incubator operating at eight universities, about what it actually takes to produce the depth of learning that institutions advertise but rarely achieve.

Drawing on his experience founding and selling a technology company to Walmart, leading the entrepreneur center at Brigham Young University, and building Sandbox across multiple institutions, Crittenden explains how credit consolidation, real stakes, and interdisciplinary structure create the conditions for genuine learning. He also addresses how an AI-powered oral examination system solves the assessment problem that has long undermined open-ended experiential programs, and how institutions can build a program like Sandbox without triggering a substantive accreditation review.

This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, provosts, and academic leaders looking to close the gap between what their experiential learning programs claim to deliver and what they actually produce.

Topics Covered:

• Why most experiential learning is too shallow to produce genuine workforce capability

• How credit consolidation creates the structural conditions for deep learning

• The role of real stakes in developing professional skills that assignment deadlines cannot

• How to build an interdisciplinary program from existing approved coursework without a curriculum overhaul

• Why conventional milestone-based assessment undermines open-ended experiential learning, and what Sandbox does instead

• How to design a program that stays below the threshold for a substantive accreditation review

Real-World Examples Discussed:

• 18 Sandbox companies have received venture backing with a combined valuation exceeding $205 million

• Sandbox graduates who do not start companies consistently rank among the most competitive entry-level technology hires in their regional ecosystems

• The program has been replicated at eight universities by mapping to existing approved coursework, without triggering a substantive accreditation review at any institution

Key Takeaway for Leadership:

Universities already have the resources to build deep experiential learning programs. What is consistently absent is the leadership willing to pull them together: identifying faculty who want to work at the cutting edge, building the cross-departmental coalitions those faculty cannot form on their own, and absorbing the coordination costs personally. No new budget line required. What it takes is a leader willing to make the case, department by department, and follow through.

This episode gives institutional leaders a practical model for building deep experiential learning programs within the structural and accreditation constraints most institutions already face.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/build-workforce-readiness-through-startup-experience/

#HigherEducation #HigherEducationPodcast #WorkforceDevelopment #StudentSuccess

Higher education has spent years hearing that affordability, student debt, and public skepticism are putting pressure on colleges and universities. What is different now is that those pressures are shaping federal action in ways that will directly affect Title IV funding, graduate program financing, accreditation reform, and institutional decision-making before July 1, 2026.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Andy Vaughn, President and CEO of Alliant University and one of three higher education representatives on the 2025 Negotiated Rulemaking RISE Committee, about what the latest Neg Reg signals for colleges and universities and why institutions that have not started preparing are already behind.

Drawing on Vaughn's firsthand experience in federal rulemaking and Dr. McNaughton's strategic perspective on higher education leadership, this conversation examines why this round of Neg Reg is different from prior cycles, why the One Big Beautiful Bill changed the operating landscape, and why the next major pressure point is likely to be accreditation reform tied to cost and value. The discussion also explores what these changes mean for graduate programs, why institutions need to involve faculty early in redesign decisions, and how leaders should be thinking now about financing, delivery costs, and institutional relevance in a rapidly changing environment.

This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, provosts, CFOs, trustees, graduate enrollment leaders, and others responsible for institutional planning, financial sustainability, and academic strategy in a time of federal change.

• Why this Neg Reg is different from prior negotiated rulemaking cycles
• How the One Big Beautiful Bill changed the Title IV and regulatory landscape
• Why student debt is the political driver, but cost of delivery is the deeper issue
• Why the accreditation Neg Reg is likely to focus on cost, value, and specialty accreditors
• How graduate and professional programs may be affected by financing gaps
• Why institutions should be modeling risk and redesigning programs before July 2026
• Why faculty and program leaders need to be involved early in institutional response
• How AI is shifting from a compliance concern to a program quality and workforce issue

• How Alliant began tracking Title IV changes before the bill passed and started preparing early
• Why some graduate programs may face private lending gaps with no strong historical baseline
• Examples of specialty accreditor requirements that can lock in delivery costs, including supervision expectations, program length, and student-to-faculty ratios
• The institutional challenge of lowering tuition when accreditation structures still drive high-cost delivery
• Why some institutions are still treating AI primarily as a containment issue instead of a graduate-readiness issue

1. Institutions should treat these federal changes as structural, not temporary, and plan accordingly.
2. The real issue is not just tuition pricing. It is the cost of delivering programs under current academic and accreditation structures.
3. Colleges and universities that start redesigning early, especially with faculty involved, will have more options than those that wait for the pressure to become financial damage.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/2026-neg-reg-and-title-iv-changes-in-higher-education/

#HigherEducation #HigherEducationPodcast #NegReg

New data from Lumina Foundation and Gallup's Aligning Education and Work: What Employers Say Higher Education Must Deliver shows that employers still value college degrees — but have serious concerns about whether graduates are ready to use them.

In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Courtney Brown, Vice President of Impact and Planning and Chief Data and Research Officer at Lumina Foundation, about what 2,000 employers told Gallup about higher education, why public confidence in colleges has collapsed from 60% to one-third of Americans in a decade, and what institutional leaders must do about it.

Brown also discusses Lumina's new national goal: 75% of Americans in the labor force holding a credential of economic value by 2040, up from a current baseline of 43%.

Topics Covered:

• What the new employer data shows about degree value, skills readiness, and preparation gaps
• Why public confidence collapsed and which concern ranks first, second, and third among those losing faith
• Why current students report dramatically different experiences than the general public perceives
• The 43 million stopped-out Americans and why the system failed them
• Why today's students are not a nontraditional population to accommodate around the margins
• What Lumina's new credentials-of-value framework measures and why attainment without economic value is no longer sufficient

Three Key Takeaways for Leadership:

1. Stop playing defense and lead with evidence. Transparency about outcomes builds credibility. Defensive posturing does not.
2. Treat the skills gap as a question, not a verdict. Investigate what specific skills are missing before restructuring curriculum.
3. Redesign for the students who are enrolling, not the ones who were. Flexibility, mental health support, and advising connected to career outcomes are completion infrastructure, not amenities.

Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/2026-lumina-gallup-report-aligning-education-and-work/

#HigherEducation #WorkforceReadiness #LuminaFoundation #HigherEdStrategy #ChangingHigherEdPodcast