Scott Pulsipher
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President @wgu. Student obsessed. Working to reinvigorate the promise of #highered. Motivated to make a difference; inspired by those who do. #InnovationWins
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Articles by Scott Pulsipher
Top Talent Acquisition Event
JUST ANNOUNCED: A Live EEOC Compliance Simulation Comes to SHRM Talent. Learn More April 19-22, 2026 Dallas, TX SHRM Talent 2026 equips HR leaders with the strategies, tools, and AI-powered insights to embed skills-driven thinking across the entire talent lifecycle.
Rethinking Talent And Readiness In A Changing Labor Market
What we are facing is both a skills gap and a misaligned hiring model. | Photo by Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images Newsday via Getty Images A disconnect exists between how employers and young adults view opportunity in today’s labor market. According to a recent study from the Schultz Family Foundation and HarrisX, just 43% of young adults believe there are enough jobs available.
Technology's Role In Rewiring Higher Ed
Technology is poised to be a catalyst for change, but only if colleges and universities abandon conventional notions of what's possible. Pixabay: TungArt7 Higher education stands at a defining crossroads, facing critiques over exorbitant costs, questionable outcomes, and entrenched elitism. As advances in AI transform the workforce and the lifespan of skills declines, a modern approach is needed that connects the country's diversity of talent with economic opportunity.
Students Don’t Want A Romanticized Version Of College-They Want Opportunity
At a time when public trust in higher education is waning, employer confidence is being tested, and political pressure is intensifying, defenders of the ivory tower are retreating to familiar ground: college, they argue, is not primarily about jobs or opportunity. It’s about coming of age. About becoming an engaged citizen. About immersing oneself in a forum of ideas. It’s a comforting narrative—nostalgic, even—but it’s also deeply misleading, and steeped in privilege.
Students Don’t Want A Romanticized Version Of College—They Want Opportunity | Flipboard
10 Years Ago Behavioral Scientists Boiled Down Their Key Findings to Just 4 Letters. EAST Is Still the Best Way to Change Behavior The EAST framework captures more than a decade’s worth of science on how to actually change people’s behavior. Whether you want to change your own behavior, your customers’, or encourage a loved one or employee towards change, the internet is not short of suggestions. There are approximately a …
The Imperative for Streamlined Curriculum Management
Editor’s note: This article is adapted from a conversation with Lyndi Duff on the Illumination Podcast in which she discusses the evolving landscape of student engagement in higher education. To hear the full discussion, listen to the episode here. Higher education is at a crossroads.
Reimagining Higher Education: Addressing the Needs of Generation Z
Conversations about Generation Z college students often describe them as uninterested, challenging, unable or unwilling to read or write, and not very resilient. Recent pieces in The Chronicle of Higher Education and a spate of LinkedIn comments have only added to this narrative. One cannot help but walk away believing that the kids aren’t alright, or worse, a problem in need of fixing.
The Role of Tradition in Higher Education
When a student is offered the opportunity to pursue a program of study at a college or university, they are invited to be part of a community of learners and educators that carry out their work within the context of the deep-rooted traditions that imbue the institution. Regardless of the type of institution and the community it serves, ingrained cultural, social and business practices impact the institution’s identity, reputation and future growth.
Student-Centered Design: The Difference Between Success And A Scam
Online learning—especially in the age of AI—is perhaps our greatest tool for expanding access to quality education. Yet even with strong student interest, outdated perceptions and inaccurate conclusions overshadow its promise and hinder a full exploration of its potential.
2025: New Year, Same Challenges and Opportunities
A year ago, I posited that 2024 could have been the year higher ed finally tested the potential of groundbreaking innovations. Today, many of the challenges I hoped would spur accelerated innovation have only grown more urgent: enrollment strains, rising tuition and cost of attendance, inconsistent outcomes, AI-enabled disruptions and more. As America ushers in a new administration and Congress, persisting political divisions fuel anxieties for many about what the next few years will bring.
Progress, Not Potential: Reimagining Education, Work, and Life with a 5-Belief System (Part 1)
Enabling human progress is the driving force behind the future we all envision—where individuals thrive, organizations succeed, and society prospers (I dive deeper into this in the first edition of Progress). Yet, despite its importance, many of our systems in education and work still fail people in meaningful ways.
Fostering Community and Student-Centered Models in Higher Ed
The importance of building strong community and encouraging student empowerment cannot be overstated. As higher education institutions strive to meet the modern learners’ diverse needs, these factors have become pivotal in driving both student success and institutional growth. In this interview, Scott Pulsipher discusses higher ed’s need to adapt, challenges to creating pathways and how the institution can come together to better serve learners.
When is a College Degree Worth It? A Conversation with HEA Group’s Michael Itzkowitz
Agree & Join LinkedIn By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. Sign in to view more content Create your free account or sign in to continue your search or New to LinkedIn? Join now or New to LinkedIn? Join now Skip to main content In a landscape where the value of a college degree is increasingly in question, post-secondary institutions must confront the pressing challenge of providing better outcomes for our students.
To Get AI Right, Higher Ed Needs to Think Outside the Box
Higher ed is eagerly embracing new applications of artificial intelligence, but I’m not convinced we’ve got it quite right. From my point of view, there are three primary tensions: AI-first strategies: Like any technology, AI is merely a tool. But a lot of the investment we’re seeing in the sector treats artificial intelligence as an end in and of itself.
Higher Ed Dive Trendline on Emerging Technology
Yet another new generation of digital technology — led by generative artificial intelligence — holds immense promise for instruction and operations in higher education, and their uses are as varied as the tools themselves. Virtual and augmented reality, for example, make training accessible beyond the physical classroom, while the blockchain is giving students and employers alike easier access to verified credentials.
Forget about cool-discovering AI’s true promise in education
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5 Practices Leaders Need To Maximize Talent And Help Their People Thrive
For organizations to maximize talent and thrive, creating opportunities for their people is an often-underused strategy. According to the newly released American Opportunity Index—which assesses nearly 400 leading companies based on hiring, pay, promotion, parity, and culture—enabling workers to access learning opportunities and experience growth can be key drivers of organizational performance. Unsurprisingly, some do it better than others.
Elitism in Higher Ed: A Conversation with Ryan Craig
An article published in New York Magazine recently caught my attention, and if I’m honest, continues to baffle me. In it, Caitlin Moscatello describes the inner workings of a members-only club that promises to help students get into a top-tier college for a jaw-dropping $120,000 a year (students often enroll as high school freshmen and remain in the club until they’re accepted at their school of choice).
Don’t miss tomorrow’s Higher Education industry news Original
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Scott Pulsipher is the president of Western Governors University, a nonprofit online institution headquartered in Salt Lake City. A majority of college students, around 70%, are now enrolled in at least one online course, signaling a promising shift that could benefit learners who have historically been let down by traditional education models.
Mutual Benefit: Serving Students, Benefiting Employers, Advancing Society
Higher ed should ultimately be designed with the end goal of connecting individuals with opportunity, but that doesn't mean doing so won’t also benefit other constituencies. Last month, I was privileged to close out the year on Michael Horn 's podcast The Future of Education where we discussed the subject of mutual benefit.
Five Questions for Higher Ed to be Mindful of in 2024
For years, workforce shortages, student demographic shifts, and technological advances have pointed to the need and opportunity for new and innovative models. Institutions haven’t been quick to adapt; regulatory constraints, antiquated notions of how best to serve students, and misaligned incentives are just a few of the dynamics that tend to impede innovation and preserve convention.
Activating Talent: 3 Steps For Leaders To Transform Higher Ed Now
This is the third in a three-part series that explores how to build a new learning and employment ecosystem that enables America’s diversity of learners to experience economic and social mobility. See Part One and Part Two. Earlier in this series, I’ve tried to illuminate what I believe are the foundational flaws in our higher education system and offer a new way of thinking that can lay the ground for a more effective and inclusive system.
Activating Talent: Two Mindsets That Fuel Higher Ed Inequities
This is Part Two in a three-part series that explores how to build a new learning and employment ecosystem that enables America’s diversity of learners to experience economic and social mobility. See Part One. In its current state, our higher education system—full of expansive missions and uneven outcomes—is not primarily designed to act as an engine of economic and social mobility for America’s diversity of learners. But progress is underway.
It's time to rethink incentives for higher ed Original
In recent months, discussions on the escalating cost of college - and subsequent debt passed onto students and taxpayers - have illuminated an affordability crisis that is hindering the ability of individuals to get ahead in life. Paired with underwhelming and uneven student outcomes, the reality is that colleges in America have a spending problem. Only by increasing affordability and value for students can we reinvigorate the promise of higher education for all.
Higher ed spending problem demands attention no matter court's opinion
This post originally appeared on the Clayton Christensen Institute’s blog and is reposted here with permission. Note: Scott Pulsipher, president of Western Governors University, and I published this piece on Forbes two days before the Supreme Court overturned President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, as the majority said that it exceeded the authority Congress delegated to the executive branch.
Activating Talent: Is Higher Ed Failing Individuals & the Economy?
This is the first in a three-part series that explores how to build a new learning and employment ecosystem that enables America’s diversity of learners to experience economic and social mobility. Is higher education delivering on its promise? It's complicated. I like to think of education simply as the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and ability. But in order for individuals to thrive, they must also be able to apply what they’ve learned to a relevant opportunity.
Building A Brighter Future: Moving Beyond Student Loan Debates
After months of deliberation, the Supreme Court has finally ruled on the legality of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, striking down the executive action that for months dominated dinner table conversations and political debates.
Unlocking The Full Potential Of Your Organization: 3 Questions To Help Employees Thrive And Drive Success
Increasingly employers are investing in the development and advancement of their people, recognizing ... [+] that these individuals are not mere resources, but intimately connected to their organization's success. UnSpash: christina-wocintechchat-com With several prominent business leaders recently going viral for demonstrating a lack of empathy for members of their teams, it appears the social contract between employers and employees is shifting—and that’s a good thing.
Embracing technology to make opportunity work for everyone - opinion
Despite significant differences, the challenges shaping higher education in the US, UK, and Australia are decidedly similar. Triggered by global phenomena—including the war for talent, global skills shortages from changes in work practices, international migration, and new expectations and appetites for learning—higher education leaders have good reason to worry.
Convention over Progress: Why is Higher Ed Clinging to the Status Quo? Original
Recently I had the privilege of speaking to the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce about the challenges facing higher education and what I see as our best path forward. My testimony centered primarily around Congress’s role in creating a context to both enable innovation and increase accountability among educational institutions to deliver tangible value to all learners, and society by extension.
Colleges and universities shouldn’t wait for a federal mandate to deliver better value
The Supreme Court is poised to consider President Biden’s student loan cancellation plan next week. No matter the decision, the U.S. higher education system is at an indisputable breaking point, and its future hinges on what the government and postsecondary institutions do next. Today’s students increasingly question the value they are getting from their education.
Oral Testimony: House Education and the Workforce Committee
Scott Pulsipher Scott Pulsipher WGU President, Board Member, Community Leader Published Feb 8, 2023 Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Scott, and Members of the Committee, I am grateful for your convening this hearing and for the opportunity to offer a perspective on the state of higher education. My name is Scott Pulsipher; I serve as president of Western Governors University.
Too few business models prioritize student success (opinion)
Higher education has come to mean a great many things to the American people-a coming-of-age experience, a stepping-stone holding the promise to a better future, even validation that an individual "belongs" to an exclusive institution.
3 Ways Higher Education Can Flip the Script on Value
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3 Ways Higher Education Can Flip the Script on Value Original
College can be costly, and for many the reward doesn’t merit the financial burden. With reports highlighting a continued decline in student enrollment and a shrinking segment of the population who view college as very important, leaders in higher education have good reason to worry.
Higher Education Must Invest In Students, Not The Other Way Around
Too often, the “value” of a college degree is misconstrued to be synonymous with its cost. In reality, it’s about students’ return on their investment—which opportunities did the degree unlock, and how do those translate into economic and social mobility? As a sector, we’re falling disastrously short in this regard. Despite sky-rocketing costs that have 180% since 1980 (adjusted for inflation), many graduates find themselves ill-prepared for a rapidly evolving workplace.
The Many Ways Higher Education Must Change
The Many Ways Higher Education Must Change Higher education leaders are on their way to the largest conference focused on innovation and they must prepare themselves for a new reality. Read Full Article »
OPINION: Time to talk about the many ways higher education must change
As some of the most innovative leaders in education gather in San Diego this week for the annual ASU+GSV Summit, millions of students are preparing to return to campus after a long pandemic-induced absence. Whether higher education leaders are on their way to the largest conference focused on innovation or staying at their home schools, they must prepare themselves for a new reality: Nearly two-thirds of students who responded to recent polling said higher education is not worth the cost.
Congressional Testimony: Renewing The Promise Of Higher Education
Policy should consider critical challenges of completion, cost, relevancy, and ultimately, value. Getty Images Today I had the privilege of speaking to the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. The Subcommittee convened a hearing to address Expanding Access to the Higher Education and the Promise it Holds—there is no issue on which I am more passionate.
Our Labor Market Infrastructure Is Ancient: 3 Key Investments To Unlock Opportunity
The pathway to opportunity needs more than repaving: we must invest for the future. Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images “Infrastructure” connotes images of roads and bridges, the physical capital that enables movement across society. The word didn’t exist in English when some of the most economically powerful infrastructure investments were made in the 1930s. Since then, trillions of dollars have been invested in creating our physical infrastructure of roads, rails, power grids, and dams.
Forgive Us Our Debts: The Racial Inequity At The Root Of The Student Loan Crisis
Regardless of where one stands on forgiving debt, we should all agree that the promise of higher ... [+] education needs reinvigorating—and that calls for debt forgiveness should be coupled with mandates for true reform. Photo by Andre Hunter The “student debt crisis” is not a monolith; it masks a range of underlying dynamics. The average undergraduate leaves college with a hefty but perhaps manageable $29,900 in debt, and recent cohorts have a default rate of less than 10%.
Biden’s Vision On Loan Forgiveness Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Americans deserve more return on their investment in college: beyond reducing the tuition bill, ... [+] higher education must deliver meaningful opportunity. UNSPLASH In Peter Drucker’s famous phrasing, customers don’t want a quarter inch drill, they want a quarter inch hole. Restated as a university president might think of it, students don’t just want a college degree, they want a path to opportunity. For decades, a college degree was considered the way to achieve that goal.
Happy? New Year: Five Resolutions For Higher Ed
In this new year, students should be at the center of our thinking, planning, and building, as never ... [+] before. Photo by Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash The past week felt more like the 53rd week of the prior year, rather than the first week of 2021. Our expectations for a new year, one in which we can finally stop using the word ‘unprecedented’, may already have been dashed.
Time to rebuild the economy with new workforce development programs
A welding student in a classroom at West Georgia Technical College. Credit: Terrell Clark for The Hechinger Report The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. The American economy is in dire need of life support, and federal stimulus efforts have been critical to limiting the economic damage. But cash infusions aren’t nearly enough.
Finding A New Job Is Hard, But New Tech Can Change That
The Learning and Employment Record (LER) can give us ownership of our learning achievements and ... [+] allow us to share our know-how and can-do with employers and academic institutions, which has the potential to open pathways to opportunity for many. getty How do you share your talents, abilities, knowledge, and achievements? It isn’t always easy to communicate what we can do through a résumé or job application. We all accumulate learning, skills, and experience as we travel the road of life.
Covid Is Hurting Higher Ed’s Bottom Line. Who Should Foot The Bill?
Our system of higher education is internationally admired, but also hugely expensive. getty The epidemic of inexorably rising student debt has long raised two critical questions about higher education: why does it cost so much, and who should pay for it? Wonks tend to address the first question, and populists have a range of proposals on the second. But Covid-19 has given both an air of ragged urgency.
WGU president: Colleges will survive the fall. The bigger question is how we help students thrive
We are on the cusp of a reckoning in higher education. As the summer heat reaches its peak, questions about the fall are pressing in, whether regarding safely reopening campuses, the rapid shift to online models, or the COVID-exposed cracks in the economic models of many institutions.
This Old Tax Provision Holds Back Recovery
Scott Pulsipher & Michael B. Horn RealClearPolicy August 12, 2020 Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File The economic impact of the pandemic — including job losses — is going to get worse before it gets better. The short-term fixes under discussion, such as boosting unemployment insurance or shoring up businesses’ balance sheets again, are just that — short term.
The Outdated Tax Provision Holding Back Economic Recovery
The economic impact of the pandemic — including job losses — is going to get worse before it gets better. The short-term fixes under discussion, such as boosting unemployment insurance or shoring up businesses’ balance sheets again, are just that — short term. They won't fix what ails the American worker because the reality is that many of the jobs being eliminated won’t ever return.
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