EdUp Insights

Information is all around us, but it’s always important to know what the experts have to say on any topic. We all want information that is current and accurate. But what is current is not always accurate, and what is accurate is not always current. Higher education is no different. So the question of the day is how to sift through the sea of information out there to get at what it is that we want...

Have you ever wondered how well colleges and universities are preparing students for the workforce?  More to the point, have you ever wondered how the perspective of the higher education community compares with that of employers and students?  Well, wonder no more.  In this episode I’ll look at the results of several studies that will reveal how well higher education thinks it is doing at career p...

Higher education is all about data and information.  But is this  “knowledge”?  More to the point, what’s the difference?  The same traditional sources have churned out studies and reports for decades with almost no change in results.  Facts and figures go in and are digested, but not much seems to come of it.  So the studies are replicated, with the same results.  The data and the “knowledge” bui...

A recent ACE study reports that college and university presidents are serving for increasingly shorter periods of time, and a majority of those currently in office don’t plan to be there—or in higher education at all—within five years. Presidents find themselves assailed by scandal, politics, business woes, and general scrutiny as never before.  All of this sounds familiar.  It sounds like the pre...

Innovation and transformation in higher education (and elsewhere) is not just about brilliant insights or unfettered creativity.  That part is easy. The key is perseverance in the face of overwhelming obstacles and resistance.  If failure is an option, it is inevitable. Excuses are the remnants of forsaken aspirations.  Progress is the result of determination, grit and tenacity. Excuses and progre...

A recent post by Joe Sallustio (@JoeSallustio) on LinkedIn raised several interesting points about how higher ed views and responds to the competitive education landscape. He points out that higher ed is attuned primarily to institutional competition within the higher ed community, and so marketing is largely focused against other institutions within the community.  But he also points out that the...

One of the biggest obstacles to success in higher education (and elsewhere) is operating in silos. The ability to see the big picture from multiple perspectives is key to providing a comprehensive education experience. Institutional units need to understand what is happening in other parts of the enterprise and how the units must work together to deliver a quality, value-added education.  The abil...

In Episode 59 I took a look at the level of confidence that presidents and chief financial officers have in their institutions’ viability and higher education in general.  I still don’t get how the relatively positive outlook of these groups aligns with the trends toward closures, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions that we are witnessing.  But recent studies from Gallup and Insider Higher Ed off...

A new iteration of a Gainful Employment rule is now scheduled for implementation in 2024.  Various versions of the rule, or something like it,  have been around since 1965. (See episode 15 for some commentary). You will be pleased to know that I am NOT going to rehash the jumble of consumer protection arguments and scandals that have plagued this rule for decades.  Instead, I’m going to suggest th...

The recent federal spending bill that ends the repayment moratorium on student debt and the Supreme Court decision on student loan debt forgiveness mean that loan repayments will likely resume this fall for millions of borrowers. Without the one-time forgiveness plan that was denied, there could be a significant strain on the Office of Federal Student Aid as the load of loans to be serviced is mor...

There is an ongoing debate as to whether a college degree is “worth it.” In this episode I’ll explore the notion of “worth it” and what experts, including major business and government authorities, have to say.  I think you may be surprised at what they have to say and what it may mean for the future of higher education.   EdUp Insights with Bill Pepicello is part of the EdUp Experience Podcast Ne...

Piecing together a picture of the future of higher education is like working on a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the final puzzle will look like. Sometimes the pieces have strange shapes and sizes.  And they may not provide clues as to how they fit together to produce the final picture.  In this episode I’ll look at a couple of pieces of the puzzle that I think are parts of the big picture.  B...

  In the 1960’s, calculators completely changed how we teach and think about math as an essential part of the liberal arts. Higher education was skeptical, but has now embraced the technology.  Now it appears that ChatGPT may have a similar effect on the teaching and practice of writing.  In both cases, technology has developed tools that present a multitude of opportunities and challenges at all...

In January I published a prescient episode entitled “The Myth of Student Loan Forgiveness.” I am going to republish it today, not just to beat my chest, but to remind us all of what happens when politics and ideology contaminate higher education. The Supreme Court decision should not have been a surprise to anyone.  And not because of conservative vs. liberal judges. This issue was in large part a...

Recently released 2023 figures on enrollment trends in the U.S. show an interesting picture of how higher ed looks coming out of the pandemic. There may be some stabilization of the losses that already existed and were exacerbated by the effects of COVID.  But how that stabilization is being realized is a complex combination of trends and sub-trends that we can document but not really explain.  In...

I am unabashedly obsessed with the business model of higher education. My contention has been, in many episodes of this podcast, that higher ed needs to pattern itself after the business model that drives the American economy.  A crucial element of this model is the supply chain that takes raw materials and transforms them into finished products that are distributed to end users.  This model appli...

There’s a recent hot debate over what should or should not be taught in the classroom and who has input to curriculum at all levels, especially concerning gender-related topics.  Much of the heated rhetoric surrounds Florida bills HB 1557 and SB 266.  If you don’t know what these are, or you do know and haven’t read them, you could be part of the problem, not the solution. But what do you really k...

Confidence in Higher Education?   A recent study indicates that presidents and chief financial officers have confidence in the financial viability of their institutions and the future of higher education.  These results come at a time when we are witnessing an unprecedented number of college closings, mergers, and acquisitions.  How do we reconcile how scholastic leadership feels and what we are w...

GPT Update   So what’s the big deal here?  I have lived through major technological and social developments like color television, computers (no, grasshopper, they haven’t always been around), mobile phones and space travel. I expect to live though ChatGPT, too. I already deal with AI on a daily basis; GPT is just the next thing (check out episodes 41 and 42 of Insights).  Society is beginning to...

We all have lists that help direct our lives.  So does higher ed.  The National Student Clearinghouse has a list of people who have attended college but never completed a degree or other formal course of study.  It’s called the Some College No Credential list. Supposedly this list identifies individuals whom Institutions can help bring back into the higher education fold. This list triggered a liv...

In the last episode, I looked at pipelines to the university presidency and what the future of the presidency might look like.  My observation is that if we don’t change what we put into the pipeline, that leads to the presidency, we shouldn’t expect something different to come out the other end. The same is true for institutions. We have to look at what goes into making a university, and what we...

A recent ACE study looks at the state of university presidents in the United States.  It provides the latest data gathered in areas like diversity, experience, tenure, and the future plans of today’s crop of institutional leaders. Much of this data is not earthshaking, but it reveals some of the confusing mindset that plagues efforts to transform the office of the president. Specifically, it looks...

54.  Elvin Freytes Comes Clean Season 5.4 4/30   So where do all the EdUp podcasts come from?  How did it all start?  And what’s the story behind the best-selling book “Commencement: The Beginning of a New Era in Higher Education”? It all looks pretty slick and cool.  But there are a lot of moving parts behind this multimedia network. In this episode, I take a look behind the scenes with Elvin Fre...

I have often advised colleagues, collaborators, and anyone else against embracing complexity. Why?  Well the not-complex answer is that complexity is the adversary of progress.  Complexity, at its core, is predictable and comfortable.  Uninspired approaches to repetitive routines often produce, unoriginal and easily anticipated results. Complexity is snug and secure, but it’s not a...

One of the themes in the book Commencement: “The Beginning of a New Era in Higher Education” is leadership.  The book contains in depth discussions, as well as illuminating examples, of what leaders in higher education are thinking and doing.  In this episode I’ll share some of my recent thoughts on how leaders are made, and the realities of success and failure.  No theory here, jus...