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Officially, it’s fall—for those of us celebrating in the Northern Hemisphere. Where did the year go? In my case, probably into reading too many surveys.
This week’s reports cover provost confidence and the value of nondegree credentials. Despite their differences, they have something in common—in each case, claims about effectiveness or value run ahead of the evidence and infrastructure needed to support them.
The University of Lake Wobegon
The latest Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers describes a world in which the challenges are serious, but almost every institution is above average.
Provosts recognize the disruptive effects of AI, cuts to public funding, demographic shifts, and declining public confidence. Yet they remain remarkably bullish about their own institutions.
Some of this optimism becomes harder to sustain when the findings are considered alongside one another.
Provosts’ Positive Assessment | Complicating Finding Elsewhere in the Survey |
|---|---|
99% say that their institution is at least somewhat effective at providing a quality undergraduate education | Only 49% are confident that academic quality is consistent across all programs |
83% say that they effectively create a data-driven culture around student success | Yet only 47% of provosts say they have adequate budgets and personnel to implement initiatives generally |
58% rate their institution as effective in providing students with meaningful work-integrated learning | Yet 60% say students’ need to earn money limits their participation in unpaid or lower-paid work-integrated learning |
35% describe their nondegree credential infrastructure as robust | In a separate Inside Higher Ed survey, only 15% of technology leaders described their institution’s infrastructure for nondegree pathways as robust |
These findings do not necessarily contradict one another. An institution can offer good internships while recognizing that many students cannot afford to take them, for example. But the pattern suggests that provosts may be judging effectiveness from the existence of programs and institutional intentions, while applying a less demanding standard to whether those programs are consistent, accessible, and adequately resourced.
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