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  • The College President Who Isn’t Afraid of Speaking Up

    The College President Who Isn’t Afraid of Speaking Up
    2026/04/14

    These days colleges are under fire from the Trump administration and critics on multiple fronts. Dartmouth College’s president, Sian Beilock, is one of the few Ivy League presidents not getting hauled before Congress, though her approach has plenty of detractors. Jeff and Michael talked with Beilock about the purpose of college, and how to lead in this polarized and uncertain time. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.

    Relevant Links

    “It feels like there’s no jobs,” in The New York Times.

    “Dartmouth announces AI partnership with Anthropic, company accused of plagiarizing Dartmouth professors’ publications,” in The Dartmouth.

    “What an Ivy League Education Really Gets You,” in The Atlantic.

    Chapters

    0:00 - Introduction

    1:52 - An Up-and-Coming College President

    4:17 - ‘Leading With Values’

    6:24 - The Choice to Be Outspoken in this Moment

    7:16 - How Should We Think About the Modern College Presidency?

    8:33 - How to Respond to Controversial World Events

    10:00 - Why Does College Seem So Much Harder and Less Satisfying to Students Today?

    12:24 - How Can Colleges Provide More Work Experience?

    15:30 - Helping Students Learn Soft Skills

    18:04 - What Role Should Colleges Play With AI?

    20:15 - Do Students Need Colleges to Learn in an AI Era?

    22:27 - How Should College Presidents Engage With Students?

    24:53 - Should Highly-Selective Colleges Expand Their Classes

    26:39 - Sponsor Break

    27:24 - The Importance of Clarity of Mission

    33:04 - How Should Colleges Talk About the Soft Skills They Teach?

    35:20 - How Personal Stories Bleed Through in Leadership

    37:10 - The Challenge of Presidents Forging Relationships With Students

    40:27 - Lightning Round with Sian Beilock

    Connect with Michael Horn:

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    Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You

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    43 分
  • The Busts in Buildings, AI, and College Presidencies

    The Busts in Buildings, AI, and College Presidencies
    2026/04/07
    As winter thaws and spring arrives, Jeff and Michael reflect on six big issues facing higher education. First up, why they think the campus building boom is over — and what comes next. They also discuss how AI is changing both higher ed and the world of work; what recent scandals involving college presidents mean for the sustainability of that job; and why the finances of college sports just don’t add up. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group. Relevant Links: “From Building to Stewardship,” by Jeff Selingo. “Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence,” by Anthropic. “AI Isn’t Lightening Workloads. It’s Making Them More Intense,” in The Wall Street Journal. “2026 Survey of College and University Presidents,” in Inside Higher Ed. Chapters 0:00 - Intro 1:59 - The Campus Building Boom Is Over 4:30 - Moving to ‘Facilities Stewardship’ 12:47 - Is Higher Ed Too Negative About AI? 17:47 - ‘AI-Native Universities Will Be Pretty Disruptive’ 21:13 - Why the Cost of Acquiring Students Is Key 23:13 - New Report on How AI Is Changing Jobs 29:22 - What’s Happening With the University Presidency? 32:00 - New Survey of College Presidents 33:22 - Why the Finances of College Athletics Don’t Add Up Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    40 分
  • The Sports Betting Madness on College Campuses

    The Sports Betting Madness on College Campuses
    2026/03/24
    It’s March Madness, a prime time for college sports – and for sports betting. Some two-thirds of college students now bet on sports, and the meteoric rise in popularity brings a mix of tough challenges for campus leaders. On this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with two officials from the NCAA, Clint Hangebrauck and Mark Hicks, to understand why a rise in student gambling could become “the next big public health crisis” for campuses. This episode is supported exclusively by Ascendium Education Group. Related Links “U.S. sports betting: Where all 50 states stand on online sports betting sites,” in CBS Sports. “Federal prosecutors charge 26 men with alleged conspiracy to manipulate college basketball games,” in The Athletic. Suspensions, arrests and lifetime bans: A timeline of sports betting scandals since the repeal of PASPA,” in ESPN. “NCAA won't allow pro sports betting by college athletes and staff amid gambling scandals,” in PBS NewsHour.“ ‘Is This Insider Information?’ The Prediction Market Bets Driving a Campus Frenzy,” in The Wall Street Journal. Chapters 0:00 - Sports Betting Is Suddenly Everywhere 2:10 - The Turning Point That Drove a Gambling Boom 3:11 - Scandals Threaten the Integrity of Games 3:53 - Why ‘Prop Bets’ Pose Threats for Athletes 4:44 - The NCAA’s Role and Introducing Our Guests 5:45 - Laying Out the Landscape of College Betting 8:37 - How Widespread Are Problems Related to Sports Betting? 12:07 - Why College Presidents Should Be Concerned About Gambling 15:56 - Which Sports or Schools Face the Biggest Impact of Sports Betting? 20:04 - Should Student Athletes Be Allowed to Bet on Pro Sports? 22:51 - What Should Colleges Do About Sports Betting? 25:15 - What Is the NCAA Doing to Protect Student Athletes? 29:40 - How NCAA Collaborates With Betting Companies 33:52 - What’s Next for Sports Betting? 36:42 - A Wake-Up Call to the Issue of Sports Betting 40:53 - Sports Betting Touches Many Parts of Campus Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    46 分
  • How AI Could Transform, or Replace, the LMS

    How AI Could Transform, or Replace, the LMS
    2026/03/10
    For 30 years now, colleges have relied on the Learning Management System, or LMS, as a key portal for professors and students to teach and learn. It's a tool that has helped colleges adapt to online learning and bring digital tools to classroom teaching. But generative AI seems poised to disrupt the LMS. And it’s unclear whether the LMS will evolve—or be replaced altogether. For this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with a pioneer of the technology, Matthew Pittinsky, about the lessons of past moments of tech disruption like the smartphone and cloud computing and about what could be different this time. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group. Relevant Links The LMS at 30: From Course Management to Learning Management (At Last), by Matthew Pittinsky in OnTech. LMS at 30 Part 2: Learning Management in the AI Era, by Matthew Pittinsky in OnTech. “Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils' Intellectual Development,” by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson “Two-Sigma Tutoring: Separating Science Fiction from Science Fact,” by Paul T. von Hippel in Education Next. Chapters 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - How the LMS Became Key Infrastructure at Colleges 3:04 - What Was the Sales Pitch When the LMS First Emerged? 5:15 - Why Blackboard Bought Up So Many Competitors 7:36 - AI Will Disrupt LMS Even Though Previous Tech Didn’t 10:57 - Could AI Can Bring ‘Hogwarts Magical Study Aids’? 12:22 - Is the LMS Needed In an Age of AI? 14:14 - Should LMS Providers Build Guardrails to Prevent Cheat-Bots? 18:25 - What Lessons From the Past Can Help Respond to AI? 19:52 - A New Leader at Blackboard 21:06 - Sponsor Break 22:00 - How Faculty Are Key to Change 28:03 - Why Change From AI Might Be Discipline-Specific 34:50 - Lightning Round With Matt Pittinsky Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    39 分
  • Higher Ed 101: Tenure Explained

    Higher Ed 101: Tenure Explained
    2026/03/03
    Tenure is a defining feature of U.S. higher education, but these days the practice is in decline and under attack by critics. On this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with Jacques Berlinerblau, a Georgetown University professor who has written extensively about the tenure system, for an explainer on its colorful origins as well as a look at the dramatic changes that seem to be coming. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group. Chapters 0:00 - Intro 2:50 - The Colorful History of Tenure 8:14 - A Distinctly American System 9:14 - How Tenure Works 13:26 - What Is the Legal Nature of Tenure? 14:46 - Which Types of Colleges Use Tenure? 16:19 - Is Tenure Different in Different Disciplines? 18:52 - How Difficult Is It For Colleges to Dismiss a Tenured Faculty Member? 20:40 - Can Tenured Departments Be Eliminated for Lack of Student Demand? 22:57 - Complaints Against the Tenure System 24:43 - A Turning Point in the 1990s 31:43 - A Renewed Campaign to Erode Tenure 34:31 - How Professors Are Partly to Blame for Tenure’s Woes 37:33 - Will Only Elite Universities Keep Tenure? 38:49 - Are Younger Faculty As Excited About Tenure? 41:48 - What Can Professors Do in the Face of Tenure’s Erosion? Relevant Links: “1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure,” and a history of the American Association of University Professors. “1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure,” from the American Association of University Professors. "Professors Lay Dying: Selecting a College Amidst an Educational Crisis," by Jacques Berlinerblau “They’ve Been Scheming to Cut Tenure for Years. It’s Happening,” by Jacques Berlinerblau in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines,” by David Pepper. “The War on Tenure,” by Deepa Das Acevedo Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    46 分
  • Will a Flood of Credentials Threaten the Four-Year Degree?

    Will a Flood of Credentials Threaten the Four-Year Degree?
    2026/02/17
    Colleges and other providers have flooded the market with non-degree credentials in the past decade. But a recent analysis shows that only one in three credentials bring meaningful returns for graduates. Jeff and Michael talk with Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, who is working to provide data to consumers and policymakers about the ROI of non-degree credentials. Given many of the returns of credentials come to those with traditional degrees already, the future of the degree and credentials are inextricably tied together. This episode is supported exclusively by Ascendium Education Group.Chapters0:00 - Intro1:21 - Creating a Way to Measure Real-Time Labor Market Data3:15 - Charting an Explosion of Non-Degree Credentials7:14 - Helping Consumers Find Which Credentials Have Value11:36 - What is the ROI of Non-Degree Credentials?12:51 - How Could the Data on These Credentials Be Improved?14:20 - The Challenge of Getting Data to Consumers18:38 - Will Better Data Push Providers to Improve Degree Offerings?20:52 - How Will Non-Degree Credentials Impact the Four-Year Degree?24:25 - Sponsor Break25:38 - Why Creating Measurement Tools Takes So Long27:49 - New Credentials Could Increase the Value of the Four-Year Degree30:02 - Providing Data Doesn’t Mean Students Will Use It35:06 - Addressing the ‘AI Paralysis' in Hiring39:53 - Lightning Round With Matt SigelmanRelevant Links“Counting Credentials 2025 Report,” by the nonprofit Credential Engine.Credential Value Index Navigator by The Burning Glass Institute.Education Quality Outcome Standards (EQOS), a collaboration of Jobs for the Future and The Burning Glass Institute.Connect with Michael Horn:Sign Up for the The Future of Education NewsletterWebsiteLinkedInX (Twitter)Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo:Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for YouSign Up for the Next NewsletterWebsiteX (Twitter)ThreadsLinkedInConnect with Future U:TwitterYouTubeThreadsInstagramFacebookLinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag!Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    43 分
  • Inside the Role of College Trustees During Turbulent Times

    Inside the Role of College Trustees During Turbulent Times
    2026/02/04
    College trustees consider more than just the monetary policies of universities. And former Brown University trustee Lauren Zalaznick is out with a new book that aims to humanize these often secretive roles with letters of reflection by Brown board members going back more than 100 years, some of them during other turbulent times in U.S. history. She brings the sensibility from her career as a television executive, when she led the Bravo network as it created The Real Housewives franchise and hits like Project Runway and Top Chef. Jeff and Michael talk to Zalaznick about her new book and her views on how colleges need to reassert their broader social value to meet this moment of crisis for higher ed. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.Chapters0:00 - Intro4:05 - What Led to the Book of Trustee Letters?6:40 - The Value of Sharing Once-Secret Letters9:01 - A Reality TV Pioneer’s Interest in University History11:34 - What Is the Role of University Trustees?15:40 - The Case for Large University Boards20:14 - Hearing From a Diversity of Voices23:52 - From Rabble-Rousers to Trustees26:42 - How Do College Boards Navigate All Those Diverse Voices?31:24 - Reflecting on Brown University’s Deal with the Trump Administration36:58 - Should Every College Adopt the Tradition of Sharing Reflections From Board Members?41:55 - Sponsor Break42:43 - How Important Is It That College Board Members Be Alums?46:45 - Making the Board Feel Like a Team49:54 - More on Trustees Who As Students Criticized Leadership52:37 - Getting the Right Mix on a Board54:03 - How Large Should a Board Be?Relevant Links“Letters from the Corporation of Brown University,” edited by Lauren Zalaznick.“The Affluencer,” profile of Lauren Zalaznick in The New York Times. “Navigating a Merger as a College Trustee,” past Future U episode.Connect with Michael Horn:Sign Up for the The Future of Education NewsletterWebsiteLinkedInX (Twitter)Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo:Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for YouSign Up for the Next NewsletterWebsiteX (Twitter)ThreadsLinkedInConnect with Future U:TwitterYouTubeThreadsInstagramFacebookLinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag!Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    59 分
  • Is Grade Inflation Deflating Trust in Schools?

    Is Grade Inflation Deflating Trust in Schools?
    2026/01/20
    To kick off 2026, Jeff and Michael weigh in on some key higher ed issues making headlines these days, starting with a deep dive into grade inflation at the nation’s colleges. A range of sources show that more students are getting A’s even as they are spending less time on schoolwork and deep reading. Meanwhile, AI is raising questions about the validity of college assessments when students can offload their work to chatbots. How can colleges respond? Other issues discussed include whether colleges should change what they teach as employers embrace AI, what types of colleges employers recruit from these days, and recent data on where online learning is most prevalent. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.Chapters0:00 - Introduction1:34 - Are Those 2026 Coming True?2:26 - Why Grade Inflation Is a Big Story Now4:55 - How the Grade Inflation Issue Has Changed Since Al Franken Joked About It in 20026:43 - Why Professors Shouldn’t Grade the Students They Teach8:38 - What If Mastery-Based Learning Upends Grading?10:43 - Encouraging Students to Focus More on Feedback Than on Grades12:16 - Has We Become an ‘Accomodations Nation’?13:09 - Colleges Are Returning to Admissions Tests15:01 - AI Could Help Admissions Officers Analyze Transcripts19:17 - Are Elite Colleges Back at the Top of the List for Company Recruiters?26:28 - Entry Into the Job Market Is Not Linear27:55 - Sponsor Break28:36 - What If AI Changes Nothing About What Students Need to Learn?35:23 - New Data On Who Offers Online-Only EducationRelevant Links:“Education Secretary Says She Wants to Shift Away From Higher Ed,” by Ryan Quinn in Inside Higher Ed.“UC San Diego Sees Students’ Math Skills Plummet,” by Emma Whitford in Inside Higher Ed.“High Grades are Presumably the Goal. So Why is Everyone Freaking Out?” by Michael Horn on Substack.“Colleges Have Struggled To Curb Grade Inflation. Can Harvard Beat the Odds?” in the Harvard Crimson.Sen. Al Franken’s 2002 Class Day speech at Harvard, from CSPAN.“Accommodation Nation,” by Rose Horowitch in The Atlantic."Elite Colleges Are Back at the Top of the List for Company Recruiters.” by Lindsay Ellis in The Wall Street Journal. “AI Changes Nothing About What Students Need to Learn,” by Rick Hess in Education Next.“Fall 2024 IPEDS Data: Profile of US Higher Ed Online Education,” by Phil Hill In OnEdtech.Connect with Michael Horn:Sign Up for the The Future of Education NewsletterWebsiteLinkedInX (Twitter)Threads Connect with Jeff Selingo:Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for YouSign Up for the Next NewsletterWebsiteX (Twitter)ThreadsLinkedInConnect with Future U:TwitterYouTubeThreadsInstagramFacebookLinkedIn Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag!Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.
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    42 分