2023 in review: A momentous year in higher ed

2023 was a year of big changes. As we reflect on the past 12 months, we’re sharing what was most popular with our readers this year—including you! Read on to see our 2023 trends and check out resources you may have missed.

We spent a lot of time together

What was on your mind in 2023

ChatGPT burst onto the scene this year, spurring countless questions about cheating, the future of work, and more. You found these resources helpful in navigating this brave new world:

• Webinar: AI and the Future of Higher Ed: What Every Cabinet Leader Needs to Know
• Blog: 7 missteps university leaders must avoid in their AI approach
• Blog: Leveraging AI for Admissions Tasks: How to use AI to save time and be more efficient (with 10 starter prompts)

You were probably worried about enrollment in 2023, which is bouncing back but still hasn’t matched pre-pandemic levels. These blogs helped you make sense of the shifting landscape:

• What do enrollment leaders care most about in 2023? Review our poll results to find out.
• 6 trends impacting community college enrollment in 2023
• “Move-in melt” is on the rise: Why it’s happening and 3 strategies to fight it

This year you saw just how much student needs are changing. You used these resources to help develop new success strategies that meet today’s needs:

• Adult learners: who they are and what they want from college
• The long-term impacts of the pandemic on student mental health—and 7 steps you can take to prepare
• High school graduates are going to work instead of college. Can we prove they don’t have to choose?

Your institution likely continued to struggle with staff recruitment and turnover in many aspects of operations. You read these blogs to find strategies for improving engagement:

• What 70+ higher ed leaders are saying about staff recruitment and retention in today’s competitive labor market
• Why advancement employees leave (and how leaders can fix it)
• Why your institution needs an up-to-date flexible work policy

This year you continued your journey toward making data-informed decisions the norm. You were especially interested in how to win over data skeptics and how to make practical use of your campus’s data:

• How will we measure student success in the 2020s? A review of how student success metrics have evolved over time—and where they might go in the future
• 3 reasons your colleagues don’t want to use data—and how to change their minds

As you continued working to make every student feel welcome at your institution this year, you found these especially helpful:

• Resource center: Your curated guide for promoting DEIJ initiatives, institutional change, and an inclusive culture
• Blog: Creating gender-inclusive restrooms on campus
• Blog: 3 language mistakes to avoid in your DEIJ plans
• Infographic: 5 Components of Student Belonging

And speaking of infographics, from the campus of the future to childhood literacy, you visited a lot of infographics this year.

• How Our Brains Learn to Read
• Campus 2030: Envisioning Tomorrow’s Multi-Modal Campus
• 105 Tactics to Improve Employee Engagement
• University Research Fact Sheet Guidelines: 12 Suggested Fact Sheet Components

See you in 2024!

We were honored to navigate all the changes of 2023 alongside you. Next year is likely to bring more change—and with it, more opportunities for finding new strategies to help students succeed and make our institutions even more resilient. We look forward to everything we’ll learn together in 2024. Happy holidays!