Why Higher Education's Biggest Challenge Is Its Slow-to-Change Culture | Dr. Bridget Burns, University Innovation Alliance (UIA)

We sit down with Dr. Bridget Burns to explore how higher education can better serve students by redesigning institutions around trust, collaboration, and real outcomes. Bridget shares the personal experiences that shaped her commitment to higher ed, from growing up in rural Montana to discovering the transformative power of college and student leadership. She explains how the University Innovation Alliance has helped increase low-income graduates by 43% and graduates of color by 100%, and why those gains came from building a high-trust network of campuses willing to learn from one another. The conversation also dives into predictive analytics, student success, public trust in higher ed, and why career readiness must start in the classroom, not at graduation. If you care at all about the future of higher education, student mobility, and the leadership needed to create lasting change, this episode offers a thoughtful and practical look at what it really takes to move the sector forward.