Unlocking Insights for Program Growth and Success
Helping colleges and universities learn from the past to build a better future
What can higher education learn from the 30% of new programs that succeed — and the 30% that don’t?
Lightcast analyzed over 8,000 academic programs, looking at success across different dimensions, from completions to career outcomes. What we find provides reason for both caution, and hope. Most importantly, it provides insight that can guide future curriculum and program decisions at colleges and universities across the nation.
From the report
There are similar numbers of growing and failing programs. Around 30% of new programs see significant growth over their first five years while another 30% fail to continue producing graduates in the same time frame (and 40% fall somewhere in between).
30%
of programs see significant growth in their first five years
30%
of programs fail to continue producing graduates in that same time frame
40%
of programs continue producing graduates, but don't grow significantly
Success isn't limited to STEM
Growing academic programs cover a diverse range of subject areas, demonstrating that the door to success is open to any discipline.
Risk of failure is widely distributed
New programs in areas ranging from philosophy to engineering can experience relatively high rates of failure. Contrary to conventional wisdom, humanities programs in general do NOT fail significantly more than STEM programs.
Success rates are trending up
From 2017 to 2021, the rate of success for newly launched academic programs has been rising overall. Online programs had higher rates of success during that time, but experienced a slight dip in 2020 before recovering in 2021.
