How colleges and universities can turn things around in 2025
Building more innovative, flexible, collaborative, and resilient colleges and universities
As we enter 2025, many of us that work in and with colleges and universities are reflecting deeply on the landscape of higher education. This reflection feels more important than ever, given the very loud, very widespread backlash against many aspects of higher education, accompanied by downward trends in freshman enrollment. At this moment, colleges and universities must elucidate their vision, their value, and their goals—to bring together those on their campuses and boards, and also to share this vision with the larger community.
Higher education institutions can effectively address these challenges by applying a Culture of Growth framework. Cultures of Growth are environments in which the norms, practices, and policies support everyone to feel included and reach their full potential. By paying attention to the mindset culture of their classrooms and campuses, colleges and universities can become more innovative, flexible, collaborative, and resilient.
Identifying and Living Your Core Values
As you reflect on your college’s values and goals, you’re likely to find yourself asking fundamental questions about your institution’s identity: Who are we? Who do we seek to serve? What about our institution makes it unique and valuable?
So often, the answers to these questions include:
We want to be a place where everyone is on the same team, creating an informed and skilled community of learners who can make impactful and exciting contributions to society.
We want to be a place that people can trust—for information, ideas, or resources.
We want to be more flexible and adaptable to the needs of the students we’re trying to teach, to help them get the most out of their education.
These types of values—collaboration, innovation, integrity, and flexibility—are foundational to a Culture of Growth. And identifying these core values is the first step in setting goals and charting your college’s future.
Playing to Innovate Instead of Playing it Safe
To strengthen your institution’s identity, it is important to know and double down on what sets you apart. Colleges and universities have long been homes of cutting-edge scholarship, research, and ideas. And creativity and innovation are at the center of a Culture of Growth.
Investing in creativity and innovation is particularly important now, when the future and value of higher education are being debated. Social science research consistently shows us that when people (or institutions) feel threatened, they tend to “play it safe” by prioritizing the way things have traditionally been done and adopting risk-averse practices and policies. The goal, of course, is to try to neutralize the threat. However, this may also mean missing out on new opportunities.
Supporting campus leaders—not only in administration, but among faculty and students—in trying out new ideas in both scholarship and teaching and learning means recognizing that with risks come mistakes, setbacks, and failures. Cultures of Growth are environments that recognize these struggles as a natural part of the learning process, and as sources of insight into what’s working, what isn’t, and what to try next. By creating a Culture of Growth at your campus, you can give people the freedom to think outside the box and try new things—and ultimately to find solutions for society’s most pressing questions and problems.
Centering Experiences Across Your Campus
One of the best ways to create spaces that foster innovation and creativity and to support measured risk-taking and resilience is by recognizing and inviting many voices into the room. For example, administrators and faculty offer unique perspectives that can contribute to understanding and addressing declining enrollment. And in colleges and universities that are looking to create a Culture of Growth, centering student experience is also key: What brought students onto your campus? What is keeping them there? What is your institution doing well, and where can it improve? Developing a plan to regularly check in with members from across your campus community about their experiences there—be it through large scale assessments, or smaller, more targeted focus groups—can provide invaluable insight about their values, needs, and goals. The payoff can be huge; research consistently shows us that student experience is a key driver in predicting their college performance, persistence, and mental well-being.
And as you work together, make sure to keep an eye toward whose voices are—or aren’t—being included. Are conversations happening exclusively among tenured faculty? Or certain groups of students? Or those in a particular discipline? The wider a net you can cast, the clearer a picture you can gain on how people on your campus are experiencing it, and the better you can support them to grow and thrive.
Taking the First Step Toward Institutional Transformation
Pulling these strands together will set your institution up for greater flexibility and sustainability. When you identify your core values, listen to those in and around your campus, and test out new ideas in research and education, you can make more informed decisions that meet the moment for your students, your community, and society in general. Doing this work can lead to institutional transformation, in which the environments throughout your campus—from classrooms to meeting rooms—are working toward the same vision.
Curious if your campus currently embodies a Culture of Growth? Take our brief Mindset Cultures Cues Audit for a quick look at where your college sits along the Mindset Culture Continuum.
To learn more about creating a Culture of Growth, you can visit our website.
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