Dean Arum presents ways to transform higher education
into more just, equitable environments
December 17, 2020
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Acknowledging that higher education is facing an incredible moment of both opportunity and challenge, School of Education Dean Richard Arum presented an outline for how higher education institutions can become more just, equitable places over the next decade during a panel discussion, “Reimagining Higher Education,” presented by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and SAGE Publishing.
“Higher education institutions are in a very precarious position right now because of a set of structural conditions,” Arum said. He cited an over-reliance on an unsustainable residential model, declining public support for higher education, and a diminishing ability for state governments to support public institutions as the chief threats facing higher education. Arum then laid out three pragmatic ways to transform higher education and improve on issues of equity and anti-racism, all of which can be accomplished in the next 10 years: |
Richard Arum, Dean and Professor, UCI School of Education, presents pragmatic ways to make higher education institutions more just, equitable places.
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1. Be attentive to the change management in higher education that is necessary to accompany the demographic transition occurring
“Our country and students are becoming extraordinarily more diverse, and the faculty and administrators that came of age in prior decades are much less so,” Arum said. “The demographic transition that’s occurring requires great attention to the organizational culture to make sure practices are in place that support that transformation.”
At UCI, Arum pointed out, 85 percent of students are non-white. “Every administrator and faculty, every day, thinks of these issues and works to address them; it’s front and center in the thinking of the institution.”
2. Become much more intentional about serving students, particularly undergraduates
“40 percent of students who start a four-year institution nationwide do not finish in six years,” Arum said. “That’s a disgrace. In any other sector, we would call it a crisis and demand attention.” To combat it, Arum said, higher education institutions must launch efforts to better understand student experiences, student trajectories, and student outcomes – measurement that can inform data-driven continuous improvement efforts.
Arum is currently principal investigator of the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project. Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the state-of-the-art measurement project is improving our understanding of the value of undergraduate educational experiences, informing campus initiatives, and promoting evidence-based models of undergraduate student success.
3. Avoid being too insular, and rather embrace the institutional responsibility of engaging and partnering with larger community
“Higher education in this moment should not solely be asking congress for support, but rather asking how we can support society,” Arum said. “Public universities were built with this mission, and we need to [fulfill our obligation] to better meet the needs of the 21st century.” Arum cites the 20 million Americans out of work as a result of the pandemic, calling for higher education to respond and address this “extraordinary societal need for workforce retraining to help these individuals attain labor market success in the future.”
Arum also recommended to consider how students, particularly graduate students, can support the local community. The School of Education is home to the Orange County Educational Advancement Network (OCEAN), a network of research-practice partnerships between the School of Education and K-12 schools in Orange County. At each site, a School of Education faculty member and doctoral student work with school leadership to identify the greatest needs and goals of the school, and in turn conduct research that will positively impact the school.
“Our country and students are becoming extraordinarily more diverse, and the faculty and administrators that came of age in prior decades are much less so,” Arum said. “The demographic transition that’s occurring requires great attention to the organizational culture to make sure practices are in place that support that transformation.”
At UCI, Arum pointed out, 85 percent of students are non-white. “Every administrator and faculty, every day, thinks of these issues and works to address them; it’s front and center in the thinking of the institution.”
2. Become much more intentional about serving students, particularly undergraduates
“40 percent of students who start a four-year institution nationwide do not finish in six years,” Arum said. “That’s a disgrace. In any other sector, we would call it a crisis and demand attention.” To combat it, Arum said, higher education institutions must launch efforts to better understand student experiences, student trajectories, and student outcomes – measurement that can inform data-driven continuous improvement efforts.
Arum is currently principal investigator of the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project. Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the state-of-the-art measurement project is improving our understanding of the value of undergraduate educational experiences, informing campus initiatives, and promoting evidence-based models of undergraduate student success.
3. Avoid being too insular, and rather embrace the institutional responsibility of engaging and partnering with larger community
“Higher education in this moment should not solely be asking congress for support, but rather asking how we can support society,” Arum said. “Public universities were built with this mission, and we need to [fulfill our obligation] to better meet the needs of the 21st century.” Arum cites the 20 million Americans out of work as a result of the pandemic, calling for higher education to respond and address this “extraordinary societal need for workforce retraining to help these individuals attain labor market success in the future.”
Arum also recommended to consider how students, particularly graduate students, can support the local community. The School of Education is home to the Orange County Educational Advancement Network (OCEAN), a network of research-practice partnerships between the School of Education and K-12 schools in Orange County. At each site, a School of Education faculty member and doctoral student work with school leadership to identify the greatest needs and goals of the school, and in turn conduct research that will positively impact the school.
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“Higher education in this moment should not solely be asking congress for support, but rather asking how we can support society. Public universities were built with this mission, and we need to fulfill our obligation to better meet the needs of the 21st century.”
- Richard Arum, Dean and Professor, UCI School of Education
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Arum added that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to study the separation of the residential element of higher education.
“At UCI, it appears the attrition rates are lower, students’ GPAs are higher, and credits earned are higher,” Arum explained. “Looking at those traditional measures of student success, students are, remarkably, doing extraordinarily well. We have a great opportunity to understand why, and then use that knowledge to help improve how we can better serve students when the pandemic is over.”
Arum‘s research interests are focused on the legal and institutional environments of schools, social stratification, digital education and formal organizations. His research on K-12 education has analyzed student achievement gaps by race and class, school segregation and stratification, the effects of legal and institutional environments, and the evolution of discipline in American schools. Prior to his tenure as dean, Arum was chair of the Department of Sociology at New York University, senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Director of Education Research at the Social Science Research Council.
This was the second event in the SSRC’s series: “Reimagining Social Institutions,” - a public forum focused on the work of cultivating equitable, anti-racist social institutions. The event also featured: Shardé M. Davis, Assistant Professor of Communication, University of Connecticut; Ilyas Nagdee, Race Equality Project Manager, University of Sussex; and Noliwe Rooks, W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Literature, Cornell University. The event was moderated by Alondra Nelson, President, Social Science Research Council and Harold F. Linder Professor, Institute for Advanced Study; and introduced by Ziyad Marar, President, Global Publishing, SAGE Publishing,
You can watch the event in its entirety here.
“At UCI, it appears the attrition rates are lower, students’ GPAs are higher, and credits earned are higher,” Arum explained. “Looking at those traditional measures of student success, students are, remarkably, doing extraordinarily well. We have a great opportunity to understand why, and then use that knowledge to help improve how we can better serve students when the pandemic is over.”
Arum‘s research interests are focused on the legal and institutional environments of schools, social stratification, digital education and formal organizations. His research on K-12 education has analyzed student achievement gaps by race and class, school segregation and stratification, the effects of legal and institutional environments, and the evolution of discipline in American schools. Prior to his tenure as dean, Arum was chair of the Department of Sociology at New York University, senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Director of Education Research at the Social Science Research Council.
This was the second event in the SSRC’s series: “Reimagining Social Institutions,” - a public forum focused on the work of cultivating equitable, anti-racist social institutions. The event also featured: Shardé M. Davis, Assistant Professor of Communication, University of Connecticut; Ilyas Nagdee, Race Equality Project Manager, University of Sussex; and Noliwe Rooks, W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Literature, Cornell University. The event was moderated by Alondra Nelson, President, Social Science Research Council and Harold F. Linder Professor, Institute for Advanced Study; and introduced by Ziyad Marar, President, Global Publishing, SAGE Publishing,
You can watch the event in its entirety here.
