Brain Waves Blog

In Campus Sonar’s latest industry trends report on “Rebuilding Trust in Higher Ed,” we explored the gap between trust and value to understand what audiences discuss about a college degree using social intelligence. We focused on how audiences explain the purpose of higher ed, the value of a degree based on current outcomes, and how those outcomes could evolve if trust and values aligned. 

You’ve been giving your president and board the wrong information from social media, and you need to fix it as soon as possible. I’ve spent the last few weeks listening carefully to trustees, current and former presidents, and the people who advise them. These were positive conversations, but they revealed a huge gap. One former president put it plainly.

In Campus Sonar’s latest industry trends report on “Rebuilding Trust in Higher Ed,” we explored the gap between trust and value to understand what audiences discuss about a college degree using social intelligence. We focused on how audiences explain the purpose of higher ed, the value of a degree based on current outcomes, and how those outcomes could evolve if trust and values aligned. 

Reddit filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange last month, and I paid close attention. Its prospectus highlights the impact the anonymous forum site has on public trust—and how higher education leaders can leverage the insight within its 17 billion posts and comments to rebuild trust and inform a proactive, audience-centric market strategy. Higher education didn’t understand the impact Facebook would have on its operations when it went public over a decade ago. Don’t make the same mistake with Reddit. Here’s what you need to know.

It’s not surprising that 72% of college presidents agree or somewhat agree that their institution needs to make fundamental changes in its business models, programming, or other operations (Inside Higher Ed’s 2023 survey of presidents).

Our 2024 kicked off with a trip to sunny Florida for the Council of Independent Colleges Presidents Institute. The conversations and sessions covered the toughest current topics, such as endowments, cost of attendance, artificial intelligence, and others, giving us renewed appreciation for the hardest job in higher ed. 

Attendees navigated issues and solutions critical for campus leaders this coming year. Although the focus was on independent colleges, the issues and trends affect every institution in some form. We’re sharing four challenges that will shape the 2024 higher ed landscape.