The Future of Higher Ed is on the Line

Last week I had the enormous privilege of being among a small group of higher ed marketers who met with U.S. News & World Report  to talk about the future of higher education (a meeting spearheaded by the amazing VCU CMO Grant Heston). The conversation centered on how we can convince a skeptical public of the value of higher education. As we talked, two clear takeaways emerged for me.

We Must Contextualize Research

Universities are hubs of life-changing research, but we rarely tell that story in a way the public can understand or feel. We push out press releases and maybe pitch faculty experts to the media, but we don’t always connect the dots between campus labs and real-world impact. The result? Our research often feels invisible to those it actually benefits.

We need to highlight how university research saves lives, drives innovation, and powers local economies and global progress. And that starts with deeper partnerships between communicators and faculty. Higher ed marcom leaders must invest time in partnering with faculty, asking better questions, and shaping stories that bring the human side of research to life.

We Must Replace Competition with Collaboration

Universities leaders often view other campuses as competition: for students, funding, and attention. But the real threat isn’t each other. It’s the erosion of public trust in higher education itself.

Now is the time to come together and tell a unified story about the value of higher ed. Not just to defend what we do, but to remind the public why it matters. Imagine the power of a coordinated message that reinforces how higher ed strengthens communities, drives social mobility, and underpins democracy. This is absolutely essential in 2025.

Final Thought

If we want to change how the world sees higher education, we need to change how we talk about it. And we need to do it together.