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Empowering Lifelong Learning: Age-Friendly Universities

According to The Conversation, age-friendly universities are redefining lifelong learning by welcoming older adults into their academic and community fold. These institutions, aligned with the Age-Friendly University Global Network, offer diverse programs from career development to health and wellness, fostering an inclusive environment for learners above 55.

How Age-Friendly Universities Help Older Students

Recruiting and catering to older students to increase engagement and participation enhances the life of older students by:

• Social Engagement: Older adults enjoy enhanced social opportunities, which foster connections and reduce the risk of isolation.
• Intellectual Stimulation: Continuous learning opportunities stimulate the mind, contributing to personal growth and intellectual enrichment.
• Health Benefits: Engaging in educational activities is linked with better health outcomes, including lower risks of heart disease and some cancers and improved mental health.
• Intergenerational Interaction: Promotes positive perceptions among younger students, who learn to associate aging with positive attributes like wisdom and lifelong learning.
• Positive Campus Experiences: Shared classes lead to meaningful conversations and interactions, enriching the educational experience for all ages.
• Inclusivity and Respect: Age-friendly universities ensure that older students feel respected, valued, and included in the campus community.
• Tailored Programs: Institutions offer specialized programs, such as university-based retirement communities and flexible course options, that cater to the unique needs of older learners.
• Faculty Support: Committed professors and educational staff who recognize and integrate the value that older adults bring to the learning environment.
• Best Fit for Inclusion: Universities with an age-friendly designation are particularly adept at providing an inclusive, welcoming environment for older students

Initiatives like these contribute to elders’ personal growth and social engagement, enhancing intergenerational understanding and collaboration on campuses. This approach enriches the educational landscape and aligns with global demographic trends, ensuring universities remain relevant and responsive to societal shifts.

🦁 Leadership Lessons »

Add adapting to an aging demographic with surging student debt, college scandals, and political shifts at the highest levels, and we have a recipe for a bumpy road ahead.

🛑 But despite this, the primary issue remains the diminishing interest among young adults in traditional college offerings. Enrollment numbers have steadily declined for over ten years, a situation that intensified during the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 🍼 Birth rates plummeted between 2008 and 2011, leading to a forecasted 15% drop in 18-year-olds by 2025, equating to approximately 576,000 fewer college students.
• 📉 Undergraduate enrollment has been steadily declining, dropping 7% from 2019 to 2022, exacerbating the impact of the upcoming demographic shift.
• 🧭 Specific regions, notably the Northeast and Midwest, are projected to experience more than a 15% decline in their college-going populations through 2029, intensifying challenges for institutions in these areas.
• 💼 The strong job market and lucrative alternatives to traditional college education, such as trade apprenticeships and tech industry certificates, divert potential students from higher education paths.
• 🧑‍🏫 Skills-based hiring hasn’t materialized yet, but the trend is here to stay, with 81% of employers believing in prioritizing skills over degrees —68% desire to hire non-degree candidates.

Surviving the Enrollment Cliff

On the whole, finding a way forward will be challenging for higher education. However, like any statistical average, it doesn’t speak to the success of individual institutions. The proactive institutions will read the tea leaves and adapt.

🌪️ Here are three considerations to help your institution to prepare for the upcoming storm.

1. Catering to an Older Audience: Demographic shifts, highlighted by the enrollment cliff and an aging population, necessitate a strategic pivot towards accommodating older learners, ensuring higher education remains accessible and relevant to this growing demographic.
2. Lifelong Learning Opportunities: The fast-paced, ever-changing workforce landscape underscores the importance of developing programs that provide continuous learning opportunities, enabling students to stay adaptable, skilled, and employable throughout their lives.
3. Build Your Brand: The highest and best insulation from market forces is to have an enduring brand. This means your institution isn’t a replaceable commodity. With a strong Brand, your institution becomes a valuable, irreplaceable, and highly coveted choice in the marketplace. This affords you the luxury of being the first chosen and last to suffer in a down market. Speaking of down market…
   
   A Harvard Business School Professor, Clayton Christensen, said that 50% of colleges and universities will close or go bankrupt in the next decade. Will this happen? Maybe, but not in the next decade.
   
   But I do know for sure that Harvard will not be one of the schools to close. This is not a function of Harvard’s inherent value compared to other institutions. It’s a function of Harvard’s Brand. As stated, Brand is essential. It’s an unfair advantage that most institutions wish they had.
   
   Read More on Unlocking Your Institution Brand 

⏰ Now is the critical moment for higher education leaders to rigorously assess enrollment trends and align their offerings with community needs. The storm has begun, but we are not in the eye of the storm yet. So we encourage you and your Cabinet to think long and hard about how you’ll adapt to what’s coming.

🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

• How can we integrate age-friendly initiatives into our existing programs?
• What new learning opportunities can we create for older adults in our community?
• In what ways can we foster intergenerational collaboration and learning on our campus?
• How can we begin to build life-long learning pathways?
• How can we bolster our unfair advantage by building a stronger brand?

Brought to you by Lead Your Story – a higher-ed communications firm that helps leaders grow enrollment, reduce equity gaps, and drive student success.