Can U.S. Higher Education Be Reimagined As A National Strategic Asset?

Forbes

31-03-2025

Years before the current maelstrom in Washington, a group of university leaders, business leaders, government and military leaders was working to position U.S. higher education in a new light.
A clear need was identified for a unified national strategy to address some of the most pressing outcomes-related issues in higher education – those that have both held institutions back (inhibited change and evolution) and led to perceptions of being out-of-touch, of marginal value, or even irrelevant – but also one that leverages what higher educational institutions can do well, and uniquely well, to 'grow the talent needed to fuel our economy, address gaps across student groups and between the academy and industry, and achieve internationally competitive levels of learning for our students compared to their global peers' (On My Agenda: Elevating Higher Education as a Strategic Asset, by Henry Stoever, AGB Trusteeship magazine, May/June 2023.) This led to vision, shared by multiple associations and organizations, for a national council not simply on the future of U.S. higher education but on its future as a strategic asset to the nation – its democracy, economy, society, national security, and global stature.
In response, the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset (HESA), was established and began nearly two-year long effort to develop and distribute a report with specific and actionable recommendations to the White House, members of Congress, leaders of federal agencies, state governors and lawmakers, state higher education boards, and CEOs.
Unlike previous commissions and councils, HESA was not the result of a presidential charge or a Congressional edict. Rather, HESA had a more organic and more representative genesis. While the original concept and early planning came from the Association of Governing Boards (AGB), it quickly (and by design) evolved into a council jointly administered and driven by multiple organizations and institutions from both the public and private sector. The HESA council was chaired by Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, Linda Gooden, board chair of the University System of Maryland, and Robert J. King, the former assistant secretary for postsecondary education in the U.S. Department of Education. HESA also is backed by many affiliated organizations and associations. HESA commissioners and strategic advisors all have held senior executive positions in their organizations. The hope was that their important and timely work would serve to deepen and broaden the discussions around U.S. higher education as a strategic asset and an engine for growth, security, inclusion, and democracy.
The council (3 co-chairs, more than 40 commissioners, and a dozen strategic advisors) comprises business, government, higher education, and military leaders with a shared goal to develop an urgent higher education strategy to raise the global competitive position of the United States. Specifically, the council was charged with developing high-impact recommendations to leverage the strengths of our higher education institutions to 'drive global competitiveness, keep our nation secure, sustain our democracy, and propel economic and social prosperity.' These were bold goals at a challenging time for higher education and our nation, one that has become far more challenging in recent months as the Trump administration seeks to radically remake higher education, among other U.S. institutions.
The final report of the HESA Council, entitled 'America's Talent Moonshot: How the United States Can Win the Global Competition for Prosperity and Security,' was released last week.
The report calls for commitment to outcomes that matter most to the American people and appears to have significant alignment with the priorities of the new administration in Washington:
The report explicitly calls out current and projected workforce shortages in several key industry sectors having direct impact on national and/or economic security:
Priorities identified in the report include:
And calls for:
The report includes a call to action to create a 'coordinated national response to the complex, strategic education and talent needs of the United States,' with six specific recommendations:
The full 'America's Talent Moonshot' report is available here.