Straight A’s are not always easy to come by, but often, earning them in a traditional setting means getting to the right answer, not learning why an answer is needed or how to go about solving a problem. Sally Amoruso, Chief Partner Officer at EAB, a firm dedicated to serving educational institutions, spoke with Change Starts Here podcast host Dustin Odham to discuss how to prepare for the changes that are set to come within the educational system.

“My why is rooted in helping others, people and institutions to reach their potential. And above all else, that’s really what gives me energy,” said Amoruso. EAB serves to connect communities of interest in order to foster bold ideas and creative thinking. Through EAM, Amoruso reframes problems as opportunities.

The current challenges that higher education faces are one of Amoruso’s chief studies. She has interviewed over 100 presidents at different institutions since covid began and found that, “Some of the ever-present challenges that were with us before covid, have been amplified and accelerated, so they haven’t gone away,” said Amoruso.

Issues like mental health, affordability, and access problems, in addition to this intensifying competition within the higher education world, need solutions. While leadership teams remained agile, bold, and student-centric throughout covid, one of Amoruso’s worries was the leadership’s desire for a return to normalcy, rather than reinventing the education space based on the knowledge gained throughout the pandemic.

“If we are able to build on the lessons from the pandemic, what we’ll see across the next ten years is a greater diversification and differentiation of universities and colleges around the specific needs of the student populations that they serve,” remarked Amoruso.

Within the next ten years, there is expected to be a massive surge of collaboration across the spectrum, leading to more consortia development in higher institutions. These consortia will build strengths at each school while continuing to “innovate around different offerings,” said Amoruso.

To successfully transition to this new learning economy students must become lifelong learners, understanding why a problem exists and how to go about investigating possible answers before presenting a solution.