Why Learners First

By reimagining our approach to fit the needs of learners, all institutions can shift to a model that better responds to the demands and challenges of a changing world. Putting learners first cannot be mere rhetoric. It must become the core of both our individual institutions and our collective system of higher education. The unique challenges of the present demand that colleges and universities act with a sense of speed, alacrity, and purpose. We must hold ourselves accountable for quality, value, and outcomes that matter to each learner.

America’s system of higher education has long been the envy of the world because of its profound commitment to expanding opportunity and its seemingly boundless potential for innovation. But while this tradition may be our inheritance, its continuity is by no means guaranteed.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s ongoing reckoning with racial disparities have made clear the peril—and the necessary changes—now facing U.S. colleges and universities. They have magnified long-running issues including the broken economics of college, widening racial and economic inequality, and educational offerings that are increasingly out-of-step with the jobs of today and tomorrow—forcing our nation to redefine what it means to be a “learner.”

Dissatisfied with higher education’s inability to meet the demands of a rapidly changing workforce and economy, employers are increasingly ready to take matters into their own hands. Meanwhile, colleges and universities too often operate under ossified policies that are a poor fit for the needs of modern learners—including a federal higher education law designed for a bygone era.

The traditional profile of the college student of the 1960s and notions of college itself have given way to an age of lifelong learning. Learners today are diverse, with a range of prior experiences, current obligations and constraints, and future goals. They seek learning in a variety of settings and modalities, from on-the-job training to online offerings. We must fundamentally reorient our policies, practices, and operations not only to meet the existing demands on higher education, but also to better serve all learners seeking opportunity. This needs to happen today, not in some distant future. The current economic, health, and social crises compound this imperative, as millions of Americans face unprecedented economic trauma, unemployment, and uncertain futures. As college and university leaders, we believe this is a threshold moment for reform and reinvention in higher education.