STRATEGIC FORESIGHT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Resilience during evolutionary change

WHY STRATEGIC FORESIGHT

Higher education is facing existential questions

When the rules are changing, planning for a single expected future leaves institutions exposed. Strategic foresight helps leaders explore alternative scenarios, surface risks, and assess their future readiness.

Open conversation

I want to hear your perspective

My research is shaped through informal interviews with leaders in the field. I ask questions about trends shaping our future, including:

Recent graduate unemployment
Declining K–12 math preparation
Durability of the humanities

I would love to hear your perspective. No preparation is needed on your part, and nothing will be attributed without your permission.

Book a Research Conversation45 minutes · Non-commercial · No prep needed

SIGNATURE ENGAGEMENT

Executive Foresight Intensive

• FORMAT

1 or 2 days

• PARTICIPANTS

10 to 30 people

• DELIVERY

In person

Learn More About the Intensive

Higher education leaders need more time to think about the future

50%

of provosts say solving problems crowds out planning

Inside Higher Ed, 2025

73%

of senior leaders face federal planning uncertainty

ACE, Winter 2026

72%

of higher ed supervisors work beyond full-time hours

CUPA-HR, 2025

The Executive Foresight Intensive gives your team room to look beyond the immediate, explore alternatives, and make more considered choices together.

Ed Venit, Managing Principal of Evolution Foresight

Meet Ed Venit

A different kind of futurist

An evolutionary biologist by training and a longtime adviser to higher education leaders, Ed studies how institutions adapt when their environment changes.

Before founding Evolution Foresight, he spent nearly two decades at EAB, where he served as a Managing Director and advised college and university leaders on student success, enrollment, and technology strategy. Over the past five years, his public work has reached higher education audiences nationwide through research, articles, webinars, and presentations.

Ph.D., Evolutionary Biology · Duke University Professional Certificate in Foresight · University of Houston

Connect on LinkedIn

Expert commentary

Ideas in public

Selected research, interviews, and commentary on AI, institutional change, student success, and higher education’s future.

Four Possible Futures for College Graduates in the AI Workforce EAB · April 2026 Behind Ideological Attacks on Higher Ed, Surprising Bipartisan Reforms Are Happening

The Hechinger Report · March 2026

First-Year Persistence Continues Slow Climb Back From Pandemic Drop Inside Higher Ed · June 2025 Can Colleges Do More to Help Students Succeed? EdSurge · March 2025

BUILT FOR INSTABILITY

Prepare for what comes next

The fossil that greeted you at the top of this page is Mesolimulus walchi, a Jurassic horseshoe crab. Its lineage reaches back roughly 450 million years and continues to the present day—a remarkable example of remaining viable while the world changes around you.