Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
‹ Back to IndustriesEducation Technology

As Higher Education Attendance Declines, Will Skills Overtake Degrees?

Key Points: The NSCRC’s final 2021 spring report found college enrollment fell 3.5%, losing 600,000 students compared to the year before, the largest drop in enrollment numbers since 2011. Universities and community colleges are evolving to highlight the competencies that students develop in addition to the credits they earn. To find the best applicants, companies…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Education Technology teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

Share

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Education Technology?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Education Technology coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

Key Points:

  • The NSCRC’s final 2021 spring report found college enrollment fell 3.5%, losing 600,000 students compared to the year before, the largest drop in enrollment numbers since 2011.
  • Universities and community colleges are evolving to highlight the competencies that students develop in addition to the credits they earn.
  • To find the best applicants, companies should hire based on skills rather than degrees.

Analysis:

Is a revolution coming to higher education in the near future? College enrollment dropped for the 2021 spring semester to the tune of 600,000 students, marking the largest drop in enrollment numbers since 2011. What impact does this have for how universities and community colleges prepare students for life after college? And how should companies adjust their hiring processes to account for a future where students have studied specific competencies rather than focus on attaining a degree? Guillermo Elizondo joined MarketScale to share his thoughts.

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Education Technology starts with a company putting its implementation leads, instructional designers, and district partners on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Procurement teams read long before they ever call, and your implementers get to answer their questions first.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Education Technology, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Education Technology: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Education Technology buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Education Technology expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your implementation leads, instructional designers, and district partners into the articles, video, and social content Education Technology buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Education Technology Insights

Schools are still catching up after Google opened Gemini to every student

Schools are still catching up after Google opened Gemini to every student

Education Week reports that expanded student access to Gemini has raised classroom-policy questions. Managed school accounts and personal accounts have different terms and controls. District leaders should verify current access, feature age restrictions and data protections before setting classroom guidance.

  • 01Google lists Gemini Apps as a core service for Education Fundamentals, Standard and Plus with all-age access; some features are age-restricted. Google AI Pro for Education has separate eligibility requirements.
  • 02Guided Learning, the step-by-step mode inside Gemini, is the feature that bears most directly on the cheating-versus-learning question, and Fast Company noted it is similar to the Study mode OpenAI had announced in ChatGPT the week before.
  • 03The sharper question for a district tech lead is no longer whether students can reach a chatbot; it is which mode they land in and who is standing behind them the first time.

Sep 17, 2026

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra is the first model to hit its 'Critical' cyber threshold

OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra is the first model to hit its 'Critical' cyber threshold

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-6 Astra and says it is the first model to reach the "Critical" cybersecurity tier of its Preparedness Framework, Campus Technology reported Sept. 10. The label is the vendor's own. Campus and district IT leaders now weigh it alongside Microsoft's legally enforceable AI data protections, open to all districts Nov. 1.

  • 01A frontier vendor is now publishing its own capability tier alongside a broadly deployed release, which gives procurement a sharper question to ask every AI supplier: which tier, and what mitigations come with it.
  • 02Microsoft's legally enforceable student and teacher data protections open to every U.S. district on Nov. 1, a concrete reference point for anyone negotiating AI contract terms with other vendors this fall.
  • 03OpenAI's Navier-Stokes claim and Anthropic's formal-proof work are, as reported, vendor claims; independent verification is the signal that would turn either into a result.

Sep 16, 2026

Morgan State won Maryland's first public AI degree in months by building it first

Morgan State won Maryland's first public AI degree in months by building it first

Morgan State University launched Maryland's first public AI bachelor's degree by converting an existing cloud computing program into a full AI curriculum, completing the regulatory approval in months rather than years. The program prioritizes foundational computer science alongside AI-specific coursework and hands-on reinforcement learning projects, positioning graduates to design and extend AI models rather than simply use them.

  • 01Morgan State built 18 AI courses and embedded 8 completed projects into the curriculum before formally proposing the degree, enabling regulatory approval in days once evidence of the running program was presented.
  • 02Every student learns classical programming and data structures first, then progresses through problem-based courses scaled by difficulty level, culminating in a capstone with no lectures where the instructor acts as support.
  • 03The program emphasizes reasoning grounded in reinforcement learning and the Markov decision process rather than statistical analysis alone, preparing students to extend AI models and control technology instead of being directed by it.

Sep 16, 2026

Explore More Education Technology Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Education Technology.

Browse Education Technology Hub

For Education Technology teams

See how Education Technology teams use MarketScale →

Executive Thought Leadership

Explore Channels

Industry news, analysis, and expert perspectives

Professional AV›Engineering & Construction›Education Technology›Healthcare›Energy›Software & Technology›Retail›Business Services›Industrial IoT›Sports & Entertainment›Transportation›Sciences›Building Management›Food & Beverage›Architecture & Design›Hospitality›Marketing Tech›
Keep exploring

More from Education Technology

Education Technology hubMore expert Education Technology coverage.Explore →Executive Thought LeadershipPut campus leaders on the record.Explore →ImprovingTech training, turned to media.Explore →State of GEO & AI VisibilityHow B2B brands get cited by AI search.Explore →

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Education Technology and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512