Download this FREE special report to explore the four structural forces reshaping higher education today, and the practical frameworks, evidence and examples institutional leaders need to adapt and thrive in a new era.
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Higher education is experiencing what’s been called a polycrisis, and the institutions navigating it successfully are not simply waiting it out. They are adapting to a set of structural forces that may be permanently changing what higher education is, who it serves and what it must do to remain relevant.
Four vectors are driving this shift:
- The economics of value and affordability, which are forcing institutions to justify their proposition to learners with more options and less margin
for error - Artificial intelligence, which is disrupting curricula and workforce alignment faster than typical governance structures can respond
- A volatile regulatory environment that is creating both constraint and opportunity
- Five generations of learners engaging with higher education simultaneously—each with distinct needs that most institutional systems were not designed to accommodate at once
These forces are collapsing the assumptions that have defined the campus operating model for decades. The report is intended for leaders who sense this moment is different, not just a cycle, and want the frameworks, evidence and examples to understand why—and what to do about it.
Get a copy of the special report by clicking the Download button above. And don’t forget to register for the live discussion on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 2 p.m. E.T., featuring Inside Higher Ed’s Colleen Flaherty, and the report's author, Ben Upton, along with higher education experts, as they examine the report's findings.
Number of Pages: 23 (4.84 MB PDF)
Date Released: Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2026
About the Author: Ben Upton is a freelance journalist based in Washington. He served as Times Higher Education’s Europe reporter between November 2021 and October 2023 and previously covered European research policy for Research Professional News. Before graduating from City, University of London’s journalism school in 2017, he worked in academic publishing and taught at a private university in Wuhan, China.
This report was made possible in part by the financial support of Modern Campus.
Support: Please email store@insidehighered.com with questions regarding the report or your download.