National commission from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences delivers key takeaways from its data-driven examination of opportunities and challenges for U.S. higher education students.

Building consensus across the higher education sector was the focus of the Academy’s annual convening of The Higher Education Forum in June 2024. The convening was an opportunity for leaders to discuss how to emerge from a year marked by new challenges, while colleges and universities were recovering from the impact of the pandemic.

The Humanities Indicators project recently released a series of reports on the life cycle of doctoral degree recipients in every field, shedding light on the challenges involved in earning the degree, and the occupational outcomes and incomes of those with a Ph.D.

Review of challenges faced by state governments will inform recommendations in support of public higher education.

College graduates – regardless of their major – earn considerably more than those without college degrees, and they are highly likely to be satisfied with their jobs and their lives. These are among the key takeaways from a new report, State of the Humanities 2021: Workforce & Beyond, from the Academy’s Humanities Indicators project. The report gathered and analyzed data on a variety of outcome measures, including perceived well-being, earnings, and financial and occupational satisfaction.

Learn more about individuals and organizations working to support language instruction in America.

The overarching recommendation of the Academy's report on America's Languages was to establish “a national strategy to improve access to as many languages as possible for people of every region, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background—to value language education as a persistent national need.”

With generous support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education is conducting an analysis of American undergraduate education and looking ahead several decades at the educational challenges and opportunities facing Americans.

In 2002, the Academy’s Initiative on Humanities and Culture issued its first Occasional Paper, Making the Humanities Count–a study of the need for a systematic and sustained effort to collect data on the state of the humanities in the United States. The Academy took up the challenge, and on January 7, 2009, it launched a prototype set of statistics: the Humanities Indicators.

Higher education continues to be one of the most important avenues of opportunity in American society. But the education landscape is changing rapidly: there are more options for how and when Americans receive some form of higher education.

The Academy’s new strategic framework presents four animating principles and seven strategies that are designed to ensure that the Academy continues to produce high-quality, interdisciplinary work that addresses urgent societal challenges. In 2025, the Academy’s programmatic work laid the groundwork for new projects and initiatives that will implement this framework and built on ongoing efforts to increase impact and raise the visibility of the institution with external audiences. These audiences include policymakers at the federal, state, and local level; leaders in philanthropy, higher education, nonprofit organizations, and business; scholars and students; advocacy groups; professional groups and practitioners; and the public.

Despite the many challenges to higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded by every field except the humanities increased through the end of the 2021 academic year.

The latest report from the Academy's Humanities Indicators project examines the shrinking share of degrees at the baccalaureate level but also notes signs of stability or improvement for the humanities fields, including evidence of rising interest in the humanities at the pre-baccalaureate level, increases in funding, and a steady stream of new academic books.

On October 16, 2024, the Academy hosted a discussion on the importance of science communication and strategies to bridge the gap between science and the public. The event featured Sean Decatur (American Museum of Natural History) and Naomi Oreskes (Harvard University) in conversation with Holden Thorp (American Association for the Advancement of Science). Shirley Malcom (American Association for the Advancement of Science) offered opening remarks and Cristine Russell (formerly, Harvard Kennedy School) provided some final comments.

Richard Brodhead, president of Duke University, addresses the future of liberal arts education.

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has released a publication designed to help colleges and universities address a defining academic and societal challenge: preparing young people today with the knowledge, skills, and habits to sustain a healthy constitutional democracy. Preparing Students for Civic Life: A Guide for Higher Education Leaders includes strategies and case studies.

The publication provides an overview of undergraduate financial aid – its history, evolution, and controversies – and highlights key issues that are central to the future of higher education and the American economy.

Can community colleges and employers create skills-based credentials of value?

Public-private partnerships, new sources of revenue among recommendations for strategic directions