As Grawe told Hechinger Report in 2018: “When the financial crisis hit in 2008, young people viewed that economic uncertainty as a cause for reducing fertility.
“The number of kids born from 2008 to 2011 fell precipitously. Fast forward 18 years to 2026 and we see that there are fewer kids reaching college-going age.”
This type of demographic boom and bust is relatively cyclical. However, there are other trends in play that mean colleges are looking over their shoulders for their future funding. Tuition fees have risen above inflation for two generations and government largesse and corporate research is increasingly limited.
The bright spot has been whether universities can reach or stay in the top tier and attract the remaining students – the same report predicted student demand for elite institutions may be 14% higher in 2029 than it was in 2012 – and a core attraction for students is how helpful the institutions are in entrepreneurship training and funding the student and faculty spinouts and startups.
Developing intellectual property through research and building network effects through teaching classes are immensely valuable, which is why VC firms and corporations try to use similar approaches where they can.
It is also why GCV set up Global University Venturing in 2012 as a sister title. University venture funds have strategic interest and alignment with corporations and governments wanting economic and jobs impact.
But, as institutions, universities remain vulnerable to disintermediation. Scott Galloway, a New York University professor, author, and tech entrepreneur, has raised $30m for Section4’s series A round.
As the company told StrictlyVC, see here, millions of workers need help to stay competitive and employable, yet not all have access to, or interest in, costly graduate school programs.
Section4 thinks more affordable “sprints” — two- to three-week-long courses taught by prominent professors from top schools — is the way to go, StrictlyVC said, while others are taking online courses through Masterclass or Coursera.
Our own approach is to support the top 150 or so universities to raise funds and back their entrepreneurs through sharing best practices and using the GCV Connect powered by Proseeder platform.
The GCV Institute then provides specialist courses helping improve the efficiency of units and how they land the value back with the parent with more 300 alumni attesting to the power of the cohorts in building networks as well as case studies and best practices.
It is an honour to serve and support those bringing capital to innovation.
