Michael Crow used to begin speeches to academic leaders with a slide that had a single phrase in bold letters – “Evolve or Die.” ASU’s Evolution is modeling the future of higher education. Crow’s work at ASU since 2002 has reshaped ASU from a conventional state institution into one of the world’s most innovative universities, with a unique institutional culture and mission.  Crow has described ASU as a “Fifth Wave” university based on its digital immersion, cost efficiency, and scalability. ASU also disproves the long-standing notion that academic excellence and accessibility are mutually exclusive. ASU Online is the key to expanding access, and in Fall 2023 alone, over 66,000 new students enrolled, 45% of ASU’s total student population. Crow describes the evolution of ASU’s online learning as the culmination of “five realms of learning” and has recently developed the new ASU College of Global Futures. As higher education enters what appears to be a dire and uncertain future, Crow is optimistic. You can read the full story with an interview with Michael Crow at my Forbes.com site and this link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanpenprase/2025/05/01/evolve-or-die–michael-crows-challenge-to-us-higher-education/

A new report from the SERU survey of research universities, entitled “The Multi-Engagement Model Understanding Diverse Pathways to Student Success at Research Universities,” shows that students at our nation’s largest public research universities are not “academically adrift.” The study was authored by John Douglass, Igor Chirikov and Gregg Thomson of the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education. My new article at Forbes.com discusses the topic in more detail.

The report shows students are highly engaged across categories that develop their capacities across many dimensions of experience. The survey measures student focus and commitment to academic, research, civic, extracurricular, and career areas. “Students spend their effort not just in the classroom and truly benefit from a lot of different opportunities that research universities provide – research extracurriculars, civic engagement, career development,” says co-author Igor Chirikov, who notes that “students are active in different areas, and they don’t overlap.” These universities are also providing benefits after graduation, as shown in the report from Georgetown’s Center for Education in the Workforce. SERU member universities, all AAU or R1 institutions, provided an average ROI for graduates of bachelor’s programs in 2021-22 of over $236,000 after 10 years and $956,000 after 20 years.

You can see all the details on this topic in my article at Forbes.com entitled “SERU Survey Shows Students are Engaged and Not Adrift.”

In a world where creativity is the #1 skill sought by employers (World Economic Forum, 2023), one new university is taking that challenge seriously. The London Interdisciplinary School (LIS) is pioneering a fresh approach to higher education by breaking down barriers between disciplines and the real world.

Founded in 2017, LIS opened its doors in 2021 as the first UK university in decades to grant degree-awarding powers from inception. Its mission? To prepare students for the complex, interconnected problems of today—from climate change to AI ethics—through a curriculum built entirely around real-world challenges.

Students at LIS don’t just study traditional subjects. They engage in “problem modules” that integrate methods like data science, ethnography, and narrative storytelling. Instead of lectures, LIS promotes a “prep culture” for interactive, project-based learning—complete with paid internships, consultancy reports, and video essays.

Co-founder Carl Gombrich, a physicist, philosopher, and musician, brings a unique vision of creativity and polymathy. He believes education should cultivate the kind of “transformational creativity” needed for deep innovation—and LIS is designed to do just that.

As graduates move into careers at Goldman Sachs, KPMG, or doctoral programs at Cambridge, LIS is showing how an education grounded in synthesis, creativity, and interdisciplinary thinking can equip students to shape—not just survive—the future. Read more about the LIS at my new article on Forbes.com at https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanpenprase/2025/04/11/synthesis-and-creativity-at-the-london-interdisciplinary-school/

My most recent piece in Forbes.com describes some of the amazing work of the Honoris United Universities network, which operates across Africa with 16 institutions in 26 cities and over 100,000 students. The piece includes an interview with their CEO, Jonathan Louw, and one of their founders, Laura Kakon. Honoris has created a network of private universities in Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa and provides affordable education to thousands of students in engineering, health sciences, architecture, and other fields. Many of these are new universities pioneering new engineering education models like the Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate (CDIO) model. The piece also describes the founding of the ESPRIT University in Tunisia and EMSI in Morocco, both of which provide top-notch engineering education and send their graduates worldwide to top firms, offering promising futures for thousands of new young graduates.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanpenprase/2025/04/02/honoris-united-universitiesnew-higher-education-options-for-africa/

Using the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas as a starting point, where over 1500 Chinese companies exhibited, I have written a piece describing how Shenzhen is becoming one of perhaps several Silicon Valleys in China. Shenzhen is home to 35% of Chinese companies at CES, and is one of the fast-growing cities in what China refers to as the Greater Bay Area, which includes Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macao and 8 other cities in Guangdong province. Together they are building an innovation ecosystem rivalling the US Silicon Valley’s.

Within Zhenzhen is a new institution, XbotPark and InnoX, that is creating a pipeline of China’s next generation of leaders in high-tech product development. InnoX and XbotPark were developed by Professor Li Zexiang, who is one of China’s top entrepreneurs.   The most famous of Li’s companies is DJI, which was started by Li Zexiang’s student at HKUST, Frank Wang. DJI is the world leader in consumer drones and now holds 75% of global market share with a valuation over $20 billion US. To learn more about InnoX and XBot Park, I interviewed Carol Yu, who is a founding Partner and the Associate Dean of Shenzhen InnoX Academy. Yu describes how InnoX and XBot Park work, and how it is beginning to transform STEM education in China and around the world

The piece is available on Forbes.com at this link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanpenprase/2025/02/25/a-new-school-for-chinese-innovatorsinnox-and-xbot-park/

In my most recent piece at Forbes.com – I examine the impact of new universities in Pakistan such as Aga Khan University, Lahore Institute of Management Sciences (LUMS), Forman Christian College, and Habib University. These new universities provide diversity to Pakistan’s higher education system and are providing new and innovative forms of higher education. Pakistan itself has a rapidly growing population and is home to the third largest population of college-aged students in the world, after China and India, so keeping the most talented students within Pakistan to start new companies and provide opportunities for its future is vital for both Pakistan and the world. The piece also features an interview with Wasif Risvi, founding president of Habib University, who describes in some detail how Habib can provide “epistemic reparation” for Pakistan through its unique liberal arts curriculum rooted in the concept of yoshin, which roughly translates as grace. Habib is helping students rediscover the beauty and power of Pakistan’s culture to help them shape Pakistan’s future. I also had the opportunity to visit Habib University as part of a review committee in November. I was deeply impressed by the campus community and its commitment to students and to liberal arts. The piece is available at Forbes.com at this link:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanpenprase/2025/02/18/new-forms-of-higher-education-for-building-pakistans-future/