1. Academic Curricula will Become More Multi-Disciplinary

Current models reliant upon departmental space where curriculum is developed and fostered independent of the university at large must change. Today’s students demand cross-disciplinary learning and thinking, particularly in science, engineering and technology. This cross-disciplinary learning demand is manifesting itself in buildings that seek to be academies of tomorrow and entrepreneurial hubs focused on bringing business and creative minds together. Colleges and universities need to think about how these space changes serve as curriculum drivers.

Examples of this can be found in the project at the University of Utah where they are developing a transformative entrepreneurial building where students can create, live and “launch” companies all in the same space. Also the University at Buffalo partners with Kaleida Health to create a one-of-a-kind facility that brings their academic research center into the same building as a global vascular institute. Incubator spaces within this building extend beyond the notion of “fusion” and empower students to utilize design thinking as a means to create solutions, solve problems and make jobs not take jobs.

2. Education Leaders will Need to Balance mooCs and Traditional Learning

Amidst the ongoing discussion relative to online education over the past few years, it is important to remember higher education institutions don’t need to choose between online learning and traditional learning  they need to find the right balance. Recent research shows a fifth of Chief Academic Officers don’t feel online education is strongly represented in their institutions’ long-term strategies, even though they believe it should be. At the same time, new statistics also reveal that while distance education has been growing at a faster rate than traditional higher education ever since 2003, that rate of growth is beginning to slow.

The truth is neither education delivery model is intrinsically better than the other. Universities need to strategically balance both platforms and also think about how they support the never-ending, 24/7 nature of today’s learning that extends beyond the classroom. Institutions that begin to best leverage an appropriate balance can make better use of time in the classroom and also define tailored approaches to how the professor, student and material work together across the platforms.

3. Student Recruitment and Retention will be More Important Than Ever

To best recruit and retain students, universities need to evaluate how they offer a student life experience that prepares students to be healthy and dynamic people in the future. That means universities need to embrace sustainability and wellness as key components to campus life. Spelman College recently differentiated itself by diverting all of its athletic funding to create a “Wellness Revolution,” focused on best promoting the health of its students.

Scores of other universities are realizing students value their life experience just as much as their academic experience. This is pushing universities to find creative ways to fund new spaces and programming for students. The key here is strategically providing students with key resources that give them more opportunity to make the most of their collegiate life experience.