Provost Priorities in 2025: What Higher Ed Leaders Are Really Focused On

Each year, the Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers offers a valuable pulse check on the priorities, pressures, and realities shaping provost leadership across the sector. The 2025 survey, completed by 478 provosts, highlights both optimism and strain as leaders navigate tightening budgets, shifting political landscapes, and rising expectations for academic innovation.

For professionals working in registrars’, provosts’, and academic operations offices, these findings offer clear signals about where institutions are heading and where operational alignment is critical.

1. Provosts Are Mission-Driven but Resource-Constrained

Despite increased pressures, provosts overwhelmingly report deep commitment to their roles: 91% are glad they pursued administrative work, and 86% enjoy being a provost. Yet, only 29% say they consistently have the resources needed to implement initiatives.

The tension between deep commitment but limited resources manifests itself operationally in several ways:

• 55% say their institution lacks clear priorities among competing initiatives, making coordinated planning difficult.
• Only 47% feel timelines for new initiatives are realistic.
• Many note that their job is more about “fixing problems than planning ahead.”

For academic operations teams, these challenges play out in their day-to-day work as a lack of data to support decisions, delayed decision cycles, and a lack of investment in streamlining processes.

2. Academic Health Is Strong—But Support Is Uneven Across Disciplines

Provosts signal overall confidence in their academic portfolios with 79% rating their institution’s academic health as good or excellent. 87% also report that their institution offers innovative academic programs that prepare students for professional success and lifelong learning.

Yet, this confidence sits alongside notable pressure to prioritize particular disciplines In particular, 54% say STEM and professional programs are being prioritized over general education fields.

This shift has downstream implications for course scheduling, faculty assignments, and resource allocation—areas where the registrar’s office and department coordinators must balance institutional strategy with real-world capacity.

3. Federal Funding Pressures Are Driving Program and Operational Adjustments

More than half of provosts (56%) report declines in federal funding, and 74% are very or extremely concerned about the policy climate’s impact on their institution.

To address budget shortfalls, institutions are responding in tangible ways:

• 40% have pursued alternative funding sources, such as donor or industry partnerships.
• 32% have restructured or scaled back grant-dependent programs.
• 26% have reduced operational expenses, and 21% have reallocated internal resources to protect vulnerable programs.

To meet these pressures, academic operations professionals must be strategic about leveraging the resources already available to them, optimizing their own processes for efficiency, and leveraging data to back decisions.

4. Rising AI Demands Are Reshaping Approaches to Curriculum Development and Academic Integrity

AI continues to accelerate institution-wide change, especially in the curriculum and academic integrity arenas. Provosts report a meaningful shift in curriculum strategy with 29% of institutions have already reviewed curricula to prepare students for AI in the workplace, more than double last year’s share. An additional 63% of provosts plan to conduct AI-related curriculum reviews.

At the same time, concerns about student use of generative AI are growing. Half of survey respondents report that generative AI poses a moderate academic integrity risk, while another 47% split between minor and significant risk.

For academic operations leaders, an increased focus on AI means:

• Tighter collaboration with curriculum committees,
• More frequent catalog updates,
• Revised learning outcomes, and
• Increased coordination across advising, instructional design, and assessment teams.

Looking Toward 2026

The 2025 provost survey paints a picture of leaders striving to innovate while navigating considerable resource constraints, shifting federal landscapes, and the rapid emergence of AI in both learning and administrative processes. For academic operations teams—registrars, schedulers, curriculum managers—the message is clear: the work you do sits at the heart of institutional adaptability.

As higher ed leaders look to 2026, key initiatives such as aligning systems, streamlining processes, and using data to support decision-making can serve as the stabilizing force that helps institutions turn strategic intent into tangible results.

‍