FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  Contact: Tony Bieda, 703.399.9172, anthony@transformationcollaborative.net

AUGUST 9, 2021 – Colorado Springs: A new professional collaboration comprised of seventeen prominent practitioners and consultants in the post-secondary education sector was launched today in response to the crises in colleges and schools driven by pandemic shut-downs, demographic forces, new economic realities, and a strong awareness that the demand for quality education that is relevant, accessible, and distinctive is stronger than ever.

Dubbed “The Transformation Collaborative™” by one of its founding partners, Dr. Wallace Pond, the organization includes advisors, functional experts and thought leaders with a common purpose: helping institutions of higher education survive and thrive, now and through the next normal.

“The Transformation Collaborative™ is focused on colleges and schools reinventing themselves for the world they’re in rather than the one in which they were founded,” Dr. Pond said.

Functional expertise of the Collaborative includes leadership and governance, strategic planning, enterprise development, data analytics, compliance and risk management, quality assurance, academic programming, non-traditional instruction, student achievement best practices, student-based admissions and enrollment practices, and organizational health.

“Higher education is facing great challenges,” Pond said. “Even before the pandemic, the industry was in the ninth year of consecutive enrollment and revenue declines precipitating nearly 1,500 reorganizations, mergers, and closures. The traditional, credit-bearing, degree granting sector of the post-secondary education ecosystem is shrinking and will continue to decline for the near future.

Pond is convinced that when the current seismic shakeout is complete, the market, though smaller, will be more dynamic, nimble, customer-centric, and better integrated with other elements of the post-secondary ecosystem.

“There is a critical role for higher education to play in the ecosystem, but only if there is broad transformation, leading to a compelling value proposition and concrete ROI across multiple stakeholder groups.”

Pond said the list of deficiencies confronting status-quo colleges and schools is well-known and acknowledged, including reliance on a business model that relies on traditional tuition-driven liquidity (with high up-front cost), rigid curricula, poor transferability of academic credit or prior learning, exorbitant time commitments, a short shelf-life of learning content, and a “one and done” credential.

“Although the traditional higher education market is shrinking, the post-secondary market is growing. In fact, four of the six main components of the post-secondary ecosystem are expanding and the fifth, government, will begin to grow again post-pandemic, particularly via workforce development and professional development for public employees,” Pond said.
“For most IHEs, growth will come from expansion into non-credit, non-degree program areas. This will likely include industry partnerships and other business to business opportunities, combined credentials (degrees and certificates), and post-graduate re-training and upskilling programs,” he said.

The TC has developed proprietary assessments, interventions, research algorithms and evidence-based best practices to support timely and effective organizational transformation, which becomes the foundation for institutional transformation and success, Pond explained.

“Bringing those resources and expertise to bear on client institutions is our next endeavor.”

Members of TC include co-founder Anthony S. Bieda, Alan Walker, Anda Goseco, David Leasure, Celia French, Diane Auer Jones, Guy Bell, Jim Hendrickson, Joe Sallusito, Linda Baer, Lou Pugliese, Melissa Morris-Olson, Nam Pham, Nathan Hoffman, Tonya Henry, Yolanda Gallegos, Don Tuttle.

For more information go to www.transformationcollaborative.net

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