SCUP
Learning Resources

Trends External to Higher Ed

Webinar Recordings

5 Questions About the Future of Higher Education

 Join Jim Downey, vice president of planning and institutional effectiveness at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Nick Santilli, SCUP’s senior director of learning, as they use SCUP’s Fall 2020 Trends for Higher Education report to explore “What If?” questions in a practical format that will allow your team to pinpoint areas for institutional advancement.
Blog Post

5 Ways to Use Environmental Scanning

 The practice of environmental scanning is often a first step in the strategic planning process. Typically, planning teams engage in an exhaustive analysis of the internal and external forces acting on the institution to set the planning context. But should scanning the internal and external environment be limited to the early phases of strategic planning?
Planning for Higher Education Journal

AI and HI Working

 As the AI tools get smarter and as HI skills continue to enhance planning, higher education should continue to explore what leading campuses have already accomplished.
Trends for Higher Education

Are You Prepared for Tomorrow’s Students? | Spring 2016
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Book Review: The Agile College
Webinar Recordings

Coffee Chat: Tracking the External Environment

 Join Nick Santilli and Jim Downey for a conversation that will highlight the SCUP Spring Trends and SCUP Trends for Canada reports. Scanning the external environment is a key factor in keeping your institution nimble and change-ready—two facets necessary for effective institutional planning. These documents are essential tools for strategic planning, scenario planning, and contingency planning.
Blog Post

Cultivating 55+ Communities on Campus

 To gain insight into the potential opportunities and obstacles university-based retirement communities (UBRCs) present for higher education, we turned to Andrew Carle, adjunct faculty member, senior living administration for Georgetown University’s Master of Science Program in Aging & Health.
Example Plans

Environmental Scan Series

 A series of thorough, heavily sourced environmental scanning reports developed by the institution’s institutional effectiveness department to support its strategic planning process.
Trends for Higher Education

Evolution of Higher Education | Spring 2017
Blog Post

Fall 2023 Tech and Economic Trends: What I Think

 SCUP's Trends in Higher Ed webinar touched on some of the trends mentioned in the 2023 Fall Trends in Higher Ed Report. Brittany Cipollone, MBA, MAT, director of integrated planning and effectiveness in the Division of Institutional Effectiveness at Augusta University, shares her thoughts and experience about two of the those trends.
Conference Presentations

Higher Education, Congress, and the Trump Administration
Conference Recordings

Higher Education’s Financial Trajectory

 Moody's will discuss the financial outlook for the higher education sector over the next two years and beyond.
Conference Presentations

How Is My Institution Going to Survive the Coming Demographic Cliff?
Trends for Higher Education

Implications From the External Environment | Fall 2017
Trends for Higher Education

Implications of the External Environment | Fall 2018

 We look through an array of lenses outside the world of higher education to gain some perspective on issues and opportunities that appear to be on the horizon—or at our doors.
Webinar Recordings

Insights from SCUP’s Fall 2022 Trends for Higher Education Report

 Join your community as Nick Santilli and Salvador Aceves share in a conversation that will highlight some of the trends and how you can use the report to help your strategic planning, scenario planning, and contingency planning activities.
Webinar Recordings

Insights from SCUP’s Spring 2022 Trends in Higher Education Report

 Join Jim Downey, former vice president for planning and institutional effectiveness at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and senior strategy consultant, and Nick Santilli, former provost at John Carroll University and SCUP’s senior director of learning strategy, as they use SCUP’s Fall 2021 Trends for Higher Education report to explore “What If?” questions in a practical format that will allow your team to pinpoint areas for institutional advancement.
Webinar Recordings

Insights from SCUP’s Spring 2023 Trends in Higher Education Report

 Join Nick Santilli and Randy Simon for a conversation that will highlight the SCUP Spring Trends Report.
Conference Recordings

Keynote | Katherine Newman

 As the chief academic officer of the University of Massachusetts system and as a labor market sociologist, Katherine Newman will provide valuable insight on how global changes are affecting the academic, research, and public service mission of higher education.
Conference Recordings

Keynote | Michael Sorrell

 Dr. Michael J. Sorrell is the longest-serving president in the 148-year history of Paul Quinn College. During his near 14 years of leadership, Paul Quinn has become a nationally regarded institution for its efforts to remake higher education in order to serve the needs of under-resourced students and their communities.
Conference Recordings

Keynote: Amidst Converging Storms | Part One

 In the first of two keynotes focusing on higher education’s “perfect storm,” a cross-disciplinary panel will speak to their current challenges in opening their campuses this fall, whether it be in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid capacity.
Conference Recordings

Keynote: Amidst Converging Storms | Part Two

 In the second of two keynotes focusing on higher education’s “perfect storm”—the confluence of a global pandemic, financial crisis, shifting demographics, and a changing culture—a cross-disciplinary panel will discuss their integrated planning strategies for moving from a state of triage to transformation.
Blog Post

Listen Up Leaders

 To gain additional insight into strategies for establishing trust between stakeholders and their leaders, we turned to Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, associate vice president for strategy and organizational effectiveness, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Trends for Higher Education

Looking at the External Environment | Fall 2015
Conference Presentations

Planning with Purpose

 In this session, we will broaden our view into the future and explore higher education's role over the long term as a critical agent of social progress.
Conference Recordings

Post-Pandemic Pivots

 In this session, we’ll explore how to step back from moments of crisis and see them in perspective, as moments also brimming with opportunity to regroup, rethink our strategies and refocus our resources to lead.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Prioritizing Campus Diversity Budgets

 Researchers learned that if diversity initiatives were a strategic priority for an institution, the 2020 financial crisis did little to reduce budget allocations.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Reading Here, There, and Everywhere

 The expanding hybrid physical-digital information landscape is challenging how we plan the 21st-century campus to support new types of literacy for our students and researchers.
Report

Succeeding at Planning Survey Report

 SCUP partnered with the Baker Strategy Group in 2015 to conduct a study with more than 2,200 leaders who plan at colleges and universities. Several themes emerged around planning challenges and how to respond, which are explored in this report.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Teetering on the Demographic Cliff, Part 1

 A long-term decline in birth rates raises fundamental planning questions for higher education as the pool of 18-year-olds contracts after 2025. How can planners and leaders use the time we have to prepare for some of the most wrenching changes in a generation?
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Teetering on the Demographic Cliff, Part 2

 Higher education has faced major changes for some time—COVID-19 accelerated that volatility—and now we’re anticipating the demographic downslope in student enrollment. How and when should institutions mobilize for the difficult work of planning in the face of wrenching change?
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Teetering on the Demographic Cliff, Part 3

 Higher education has faced major changes for some time—COVID-19 accelerated that volatility—and now we’re anticipating the demographic downslope in student enrollment. How and when should institutions mobilize for the difficult work of planning in the face of wrenching change?
Conference Presentations

The Campus 2050 Initiative
Blog Post

The Campus Planner in a Time of Turmoil

 A founding member of SCUP shares some of his experiences and thoughts on how to deal with the challenges and turmoil facing higher education.
Trends for Higher Education

The Future of Learning | Fall 2016
Conference Recordings

The Higher Education Federal Policy Landscape

 As we approach the first six months of a new administration and Congress, Terry Hartle, Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at the American Council on Education, will provide perspective on the impact so far of the changes to the political landscape from the 2020 elections and the potential public policy road ahead for higher education and accreditation.
Conference Recordings

The Paradigm Shift for Higher Education

 Join us to discuss the postsecondary education paradigm shift and its potential impact on our educational infrastructure, ecosystem, and role.
Webinar Recordings

The Planner’s Bookshelf: Entrepreneuring the Future of Higher Education

 Join Lynn Priddy, president and CEO of Claremont Lincoln University, for a conversation with higher education futurist Mary Landon Darden, in which they explore—via Darden’s book—how a culture of entrepreneurism can lead higher education into a brighter and more sustainable future.
Webinar Recordings

Transform Existing Planning and Implementation Processes

 Join us as a panel of experienced leaders provide an overview of a systematic approach for getting started on transformation.
Webinar Recordings

Transformation Best Practices in the Decade Ahead

 Inexorable challenges demand that higher education transform . . . and that transformation needs to start now. Learn more about these challenges and the knowledge, skills, and capabilities an institution needs to transform in the coming decade from the authors of the new book Transforming for Turbulent Times: An Action Agenda for Higher Education Leaders.
ebook

Transforming for Turbulent Times

 Transforming for Turbulent Times: An Action Agenda for Higher Education Leaders can prepare your institution for the new learning ecosystem that will revolutionize work and learning by 2030. This book outlines a proven, eight-step process for planning, leading, navigating, and orchestrating the transformation necessary to thrive in the new world of knowledge, work, and learning. Whatever your role in your college, university, or learning enterprise, you’ll learn the principles, techniques, and actions that will make you indispensable to its transformation in these turbulent times.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends for Higher Education | Canada Edition 2020

 This special issue of Trends focuses on the forces and events affecting Canadian higher education. Our guest editors contributed observations, trends, and insights based on their work within Canadian colleges and universities.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends for Higher Education | The Student Voices Edition

 This special issue of Trends describes student perspectives on four trends featured in recent issues of Trends for Higher Education: AI, personal finances, enrollment and attrition, and international students. Learn more about the opinions, reactions, and perspectives students have about these critical topics, preparing your institution to engage with your students in a more informed way.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Inside and Outside Higher Education | Fall 2019

 How is the world changing outside of higher education, and how is higher education responding to change? This report focuses on trends both inside and outside higher education.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Inside Higher Education | Spring 2020

 The pace of change keeps speeding up. This issue focuses on forces and changes directly impacting higher education, now and in the future.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Inside Higher Education | Spring 2023

 Within the world of higher education, what are some of today’s key trends—and what are some implications for institutions of higher learning?
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Inside Higher Education | Spring 2024

 What are key movements and trends within higher education? From addressing pandemic learning loss to grappling with generative AI in the classroom, learn the forces and changes directly impacting higher education, now and in the future.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Inside Higher Education | Spring 2025

 What are key movements and trends within higher education? From addressing pandemic learning loss to grappling with generative AI in the classroom, learn the forces and changes directly impacting higher education, now and in the future.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Inside Higher Education | Spring 2026

 What are key movements and trends within higher education? From agentic AI to restructuring initiatives, learn the forces and changes directly impacting higher education, now and in the future.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2020

 How is the world outside your institution changing? While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact every aspect of our lives, other trends and forces are worth watching. This issue broadly explores trends outside higher education.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2021

 From the ongoing COVID–19 pandemic to the impacts of climate change, colleges and universities continue to face an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous—VUCA. Learn the key trends and movements that might become our “new normal.” This issue broadly explores trends outside of higher education.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2022

 This edition focuses primarily on forces outside academe that may drive change in colleges and universities.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2023

 Outside the world of higher education, what are some of today’s key trends—and what are some implications for institutions of higher learning?
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2024

 How is the world outside your institution changing? From the growth of microschools to the decline of digital platforms and services, colleges and universities continue to face an environment that is uncertain and rapidly changing. Learn the key trends and movements that might impact your institution.
Trends for Higher Education

Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2025

 How is the world outside your institution changing? From the growth of microschools to the decline of digital platforms and services, colleges and universities continue to face an environment that is uncertain and rapidly changing. Learn the key trends and movements that might impact your institution.
Webinar Recordings

Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning

 Join Jim Downey, former vice president for planning and institutional effectiveness at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and senior strategy consultant, and Nick Santilli, former provost at John Carroll University and SCUP’s senior director of learning strategy, as they use SCUP’s Fall 2021 Trends for Higher Education report to explore “What If?” questions in a practical format that will allow your team to pinpoint areas for institutional advancement.
Webinar Recordings

Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning

 Join Nicholas Santilli and Ashley Strong-Green for a dynamic conversation exploring the external forces shaping higher education in 2026. Drawing from SCUP’s Spring 2026 Trends for Higher Education report, they’ll offer their perspective on what these trends really mean for your institution—and how to act on them.
Webinar Recordings

Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning Fall 2025

 Join Jason Nicholas and Tina Dee for a dynamic conversation exploring the external forces shaping higher education in 2025. Drawing from SCUP’s upcoming Trends Outside Higher Education | Fall 2025 report, they’ll offer their perspective on what these trends really mean for your institution—and how to act on them.
Webinar Recordings

Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning: Insights from SCUP’s Fall Trends in Higher Education Report

 Join Dr. Lynn Akey and Salvador Aceves, Ed. D. for a conversation highlighting insights from SCUP’s Fall Trends in Higher Education Report.
Webinar Recordings

Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning: Insights from SCUP’s Spring Trends in Higher Education Report

 Join Diane Stephens and Dana Prymak for a conversation highlighting insights from SCUP’s Spring Trends in Higher Education Report. This document provides an overview of the important external forces that impact institutional operations—it’s an essential tool for strategic planning, scenario planning, and contingency planning.
Webinar Recordings

Trends that Impact Higher Education Planning: Spring 2024

 Join Dale Braun and Jim Downey for a conversation highlighting insights from SCUP’s Spring Trends in Higher Education Report
Conference Presentations

Using Integrated Planning to Respond to Disruption in Higher Education
Webinar Recordings

What If?

 Two SCUP leaders use SCUP’s Trends for Higher Education report to explore five “What If?” questions, breaking down big trends and exploring how these trends might impact higher education.
Conference Presentations

When Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Meet Integrated Campus Planning