2022 Higher Ed State of the Sector

Key Insights

While bracing for disruption, it’s easy to overlook how much competition has fundamentally reshaped the higher education landscape. In particular, the emergence of three competitive market forces are already raising the stakes for institutions and altering what it means to “win” in key markets:

• Winner-take-most dynamics are concentrating certain markets
• The competitive set—for both students and employees—is rapidly expanding
• The pool of higher education consumers is shrinking

Five emerging realities

1. The widening gap between high school graduation and college enrollment
2. Established graduate programs join the online revolution
3. An increasingly winner-take-most research funding market
4. The long-term talent crunch
5. Talent crisis poses student experience risks