The 2026 fall semester on most college campuses just now getting into routine. But last week, a panel at the Pryor Center in downtown Fayetteville was considering college in 2040. The discussion, The Public University of the Future, was moderated by Dean Brian Raines of the Fulbright College and included former Maryland Secretary of Education Sanjay Rai. Rai not only brought his experience leading education in a state with nearly 6.5 million people, but he brought his experience of earning his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Arkansas.
The morning after that panel discussion, Sanjay Rai came to the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio. Secretary Rai received his three degrees in three different countries, his undergraduate degree in India, his master's in Canada and then his Ph.D. in Fayetteville. He says he believes going to school in three different countries turned out to be an advantage for him.
Rai: Yes, it helps. Certainly looking at higher education system in three different countries and seeing the good work that happens in different places. And each model has its own strength. And one should be able to benefit from each one of them.
And there are higher education systems across the world. And, you know, they have evolved over the time. I can tell you that I take pride in being educated in three countries. But I should also tell you that if you look at higher education in the United States, it is unparallel, unmatched. I would say this is one of the very best system.
Kellams: What contributes to that unparalleled status in your opinion?
Rai: I think there are several factors. First, if you look at our undergraduate degrees, there are four-year degrees. The liberal arts component of undergraduate degrees makes it very, very unique.
The other is the kind of experiences students get beyond the curriculum and classroom experience. That makes it very, very special. The other is that independence that higher education has in making decisions about higher education that makes U.S. higher education very, very unique.
Kellams: You were part of a panel discussion last night about the future of public higher education. I want to talk to you about that. But first, I want to ask how much about the future can you know? I mean, when you think about AI, finances, a mercurial state or federal, you know, political system, how far ahead do you think you can think about what public higher education will be like?
Rai: I think that, as I said, higher education has been evolving and the environment changes and higher education responds to those changes. So far, higher education has been extremely successful. What's happening right now, there is certainly some disruption in higher education. It's happening basically because of two or three reasons.
First, the cost. So, you know, the cost is rising and it's becoming unaffordable to a large number of students and students who are nontraditional. That population is increasing. And, you know, nationally, about 40% of the high school graduates are not seeking any postsecondary education.
So that is an opportunity. I won't say it's a challenge. It's an opportunity for higher education to understand what are the reasons why these students are not able to access higher education, which is so important for them because, you know, two-thirds of the job will require some kind of postsecondary education. If they do not have those, that skill set, that they are going to fall behind.
So how can higher education be more student-ready for those students? How can we accept those students? They have often families and full-time jobs, right? So our current model for those students, it works very well with a lot of students, a large number of students. But we have to augment our offerings so that we can support those students as well.
The other thing is that our students are entering into a world that is changing exponentially, especially because of technological disruption, AI and other things. So higher education, you know, we change linearly. So, you know, by the time sometimes, you know, we go through understand what's needed, bringing curriculum and, you know, getting the courses and degrees out. By the time we do it, the industry has changed.
Exactly. Right. So that has created a gap. So that's what the conversation now is. What can we do so that we are more proactive and we are changing at least somewhat closer to the pace that the world is changing.
Kellams: Is it possible to close that gap even as things are changing exponentially?
Rai: I think it is possible to change, but we have to change. We have to change. And there are lots of ways to do that. Certainly higher education as an ecosystem is what is important.
What I mean by ecosystem is that if we have to give opportunity to students and residents, we have to look at K-12 system, community colleges, higher education, community partners, business and industries all together, making sure that their residents and students have pathways to prosperity passing through postsecondary experience.
No one segment of this ecosystem can do all, right? So sometimes in isolation, everybody is trying to do everything. And then we have a lot of students who are not able to have the opportunity, right? So one thing you will see going forward is ecosystem approach.
The other is that we have had education works closely with business and industries, but often it's at the end, right, that students are graduating, then they are going to work or are in businesses and industries are part of advisory councils. They meet six months, once in six months.
I think that is right now. It's a collaborative process, but I think going forward, in order to keep the pace at which they are changing, business is changing, their integration will become necessary. So they are involved in creating the curriculum from the beginning. They are involved in teaching.
They are involved in providing experiential learning opportunities to students, whether it's internships, externships and various other ways to do that so that we are not waiting for industry to change and then we react. I think going forward, the successful institutions will be proactively working with business and industries so that they are not reacting to change.
Kellams: In just the last few weeks on this campus, the chancellor and the dean of the business college have had public gatherings, and they both have stressed increasing experience, education, getting someone perhaps as their first year in college, internships, study abroad, things like that, not just the classroom. Is that a key part?
Rai: Yeah, that's a very important part of that. And doing it at a scale. So if you have 100 students, all 100 should get similar experiences.
I can tell you, in Maryland, what we did in one area, state of Maryland is cybersecurity capital of the nation. A lot of companies are there and they often struggle to find talent, right? So finding. And we have about 4,000 students statewide in cybersecurity programs. Think about providing experiential learning through internships to all 4,000 is hard, right?
So what we did in the state of Maryland, we created cyber ranges at all institutions in the state of Maryland. What are cyber ranges? These are kind of simulations like where before you start flying, you go to simulator. So this is a similar kind of experiences where students are looking at real-time threats to the systems. And they're defending, although they are not on the real system, right?
But they are in a simulated environment and they are looking at one of the most well-known threats over the last 10 years, and they're getting experience working. So, you know, providing experiential learning connected to the careers and majors and doing it at scale. This is what is needed.
Kellams: Your Ph.D. is in mathematics. I'm going to guess you feel as if you're using that Ph.D. every day.
Rai: Every day? Absolutely. So in mathematics, you know, what you learn is you learn to ask questions. You want to understand the data. You want to learn how to make data-informed decisions. But as you know, data itself is not enough in mathematics also is sometimes, you know, it's also art, right?
So I think my training in mathematics certainly helped me do mathematics. That's my foundation, but I use that in my day-to-day work in higher education and whatever success I have as a higher education leader, I contribute a lot of that to my training in mathematics.
Kellams: Finally, I want to ask you about when you first got to Fayetteville in 1990, starting your Ph.D. You told me before we started this conversation on air that you found out about NPR during your initial stay here?
Rai: Yeah, absolutely. So I lived in an apartment on North Leverett Street, not too far away from here. And I had a small radio and I was saying, "OK, let's see what's on this radio, what I can hear." I had no idea. I was new to United States. I had absolutely no idea with radio or TV or anything else.
And I turned my radio on and my luck will have it that it was NPR KUAF and we were in a fundraiser. Well, first, I think it was some news. Then there was a program, "All Things Considered" and news by Lakshmi Singh. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I could relate to it. I said, "Oh my God, it was news." And also it was presented in a very interesting and accessible manner.
So I started listening and just in the second week I was getting ready to go to my classes early morning. I think 7:30 a.m. or so a fundraising was going on. I had no idea about public-private partnership and that, you know, reduce can be supported by private resources as well. Coming from India, I thought it's all government funded, right?
And that fundraiser, different people from community will come and encourage people to donate to KUAF and NPR. And that day it was Michael Freeman. He was director of international students office at University of Arkansas. I had met him during my orientation week, and they were one of the best international student support office in the country.
I would still say they were so good. Just few people, small office, but they were everywhere and they were supporting us in every possible manner. So that day, Michael Freeman was on NPR encouraging people to donate. And I said, "Oh my God, Michael Freeman is asking." I immediately call back. And I became your donor in August of 1990. And that was my first experience in giving.
And the later, as you know, I learned so much about this nation that people give for great causes. And this makes this a very, very special place. So my, a lot of learning about United States, about Arkansas, about all kind of system culture and especially the culture of giving, I started with listening to NPR.
Kellams: Thank you so much for... Welcome back. Thanks for your time and thanks for your support.
Rai: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you today. Thank you very much.
Sanjay Rai is the former Maryland secretary of education and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Arkansas in the 1990s. He was back in Fayetteville last week to participate in a panel discussion about the public university of the future.
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