[Snap Poll Results] Future Topics
Experiencing a pandemic was new ground for all of us. A new economy was also emerging and as a result of the pandemic, accelerated many industries and dampened others. As a result, higher education clearly was impacted, but must adapt and pivot to align with new business and consumer trends. As professional, continuing and online (PCO) units look to the future, our research shows a shift from integrating technology and creating programs en masse to meet traditional student needs during the pandemic to identifying programming needs for the new economy and the new adult and professional learner. Through our snap poll last month and our 2021 Annual Conference evaluations, the data suggests that PCO units are starting to shift their efforts outward, asking the association to explore program planning (24%), trends in the workforce (10%) and adjusting to the pandemic (5%). Diversity and inclusion was also deemed as an important future topic (7%) and can be viewed as an internal or external focus. Externally, there are signs that the pandemic had a greater negative impact on people of color, as well as lower income households among others.
Institutions will be faced with revenue and enrollment shortfalls as a result of the pandemic, unfavorable demographics and a sluggish economy. There will be greater urgencies for new program development and revenue generation in both the short and long-run as institutions become more dependent on PCO success. PCO units will be critical in helping the central and traditional parts of the institution migrate the new economy which may desire new credentials, create new jobs of the future, require new content, and move at a pace higher education has never seen before. Migrating our way through the chaos in a post-pandemic economy will require greater collaboration (members helping members); program experimentation; and doing more research and information.
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