The Pulse of Higher Ed

Perspectives on Online and Professional Education
from UPCEA’s Research and Consulting Experts

Investing in Future Talent: Results of Staffing Needs Snap Poll

With society adapting to a second year of the pandemic, institutions of higher education struggle to find a place of strength in a quickly transforming economy. For obvious reasons, many colleges and universities are banking on a full recovery of demand for undergraduate and graduate degrees and the robustness of the campus experience. Those that believe they are innovating are doing so by bringing more campus-based degrees and the student experience online. Some are pushing innovation further by advancing efforts and investment into professional education efforts, stackable credentials, and noncredit-to-credit pathways. 

 

One of the most critical challenges for professional, continuing and online (PCO) education units will be the funding and staffing of future initiatives. Many colleges and universities are cash strapped and unable to retain top talent, as well as attract new talent. Conversations with colleagues suggest that top talent is being lost and open positions are hard to fill, especially instructional designers, marketers, and unit leaders.

 

A recent UPCEA snap poll of 78 institutions revealed that institutions are hiring again and staff freezes have been lifted. 54% of those responding to a question about staff attrition stated that they had lost key staff during the pandemic. Of this group, 38% said that open positions are extremely or very difficult to fill. Another 34% said that they were somewhat difficult to fill.

 

The research suggests that institutions are going to need to invest more heavily in staffing, as well as investing more creatively. The pandemic also showed that we can trust the workforce to work remotely, and that working remotely or having a flexible work scenario could be an important and attractive benefit. As institutions look to advance their initiatives in the future, not only will they need the right content, delivery/modality and credential, but they’ll need to have strategic processes in place to attract and retain talent, including the next generation of PCO leaders, instructional design staff, information technology specialists and digital marketers. The alignment of all these elements will be critical to the success or failure of PCO innovation. See the full results here. 

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