The Future Won’t Wait.
Higher Education Must Transform.
The world is evolving faster
Universities are among the world’s most enduring institutions, having adapted across centuries of social, economic, and technological change. Their continued relevance speaks not only to their resilience, but to their unique role as stewards of knowledge, innovation, and social progress. Today, that role is more important than ever.
Higher education stands at a moment of extraordinary opportunity. Rapid technological change, shifting demographics, and global challenges are reshaping how people learn and work. By 2030, demand for higher education is expected to increase by nearly 50 percent, even as economies face growing shortages of skilled talent.
Working in partnership with governments, the private sector, and civil society, universities can play a critical role in shaping the future: expanding access to learning, accelerating workforce development, advancing research and innovation, and strengthening communities. Through collaboration, innovation, and new models of education, universities can help build resilient societies and thriving economies for the decades ahead.
than higher education
120 million
New learners will seek higher education by 2030
85 million
Global workforce shortage by 2030
Only 25% Of universities have a clear digital strategy
The time for incremental reform is over. It’s time to co-create the future of higher education, together.
What Must Change University
Design Imperatives
These imperatives create the culture and structure of how a successfully transformed university functions.
Modernized University Mission Agile and Inclusive Leaders and Culture Transformative Learner Experience
How does an institution’s mission actively shape social mobility, economic vitality, and civic outcomes for the communities it serves? What mission-driven priorities guide decision making that propels sustaining impact, in collaboration with government, industry, and civic society?
How are leaders creating inclusive environments to drive new designs and impactful outcomes? Are the institution’s structures, systems, and processes designed for innovation, adaptation, and change? Is the institution preparing itself for the future by building leadership capacity beyond the current generation?
Are our learners graduating with the capabilities required to lead, adapt, and contribute in an uncertain future? How do our educational models measurably improve learner success, workforce readiness, and longterm societal outcomes? How are universities responding to the lifelong learning needs in our society?
All parts of the higher education system have to be on the table and open to change. If you are not holistically reviewing systems and policies with a broad team of experts and stakeholders, you are not building capacity to fundamentally change the trajectory of the institution.
Robust Digital Solutions
How does the institution’s digital strategy expand access, improve outcomes, and increase institutional agility at scale? Are technology investments enabling true transformation and responding adequately to emerging capabilities like AI?
Diversified Partnerships and Financial Models
Which partnerships most meaningfully extend institutional impact across industry, government, and community? How resilient are financial models in sustaining mission delivery amid shifting funding and enrollment landscapes?
Collaborative and Civic Minded Research and Discovery
How effectively does research translate knowledge into solutions that address regional and global challenges? What impact could be achieved by aligning research priorities around shared societal problems rather than disciplinary silos? What would allow for greater collaboration between universities and with industry to drive new outcomes through research?
A Global Partner
Guiding Higher Education Transformation
The University Design Institute (UDI) is a trusted global partner for higher education leaders, policymakers, and collaborators that aspire to transform their higher education systems into engines of social transformation and economic impact. Together, we will accelerate the evolution of higher education to unlock the dreams and transform trajectories of millions of learners and the societies they will shape.
UDI is an ally for higher education institutions and systems around the world to help them as they reimagine, redesign, and rebuild in ways that enhance student success, workforce alignment, and community impact. Through working with UDI, our global partners have created new capabilities in their digital ecosystems to support new and alternative ways of learning; developed strategic visions to better serve their communities through research, sustainability, and economic development; and improved the learning quality and outcomes of their student populations.
· Our approach is deeply practical and globally informed.
· We work with a global network of experts.
· We create strategic partnerships with policymakers, funders, and organizations driving change.
· Our expertise in higher education is shaped by hands-on experience at Arizona State University.
· We guide institutions from vision to action.
Vision
Universities emerge as powerful engines of social transformation and economic impact.
Together, we design transformation that lasts.
26+ countries
140+ institutions
From Insight to Action
How Change Takes Shape
cocreate
The University Design Institute partners with leaders and institutions through three phases of higher education transformation: Reimagine, Redesign, and Rebuild.
Every higher education journey is shaped by its own context, culture, and constraints. Yet the responsibility is shared: higher education must advance human and planetary wellbeing in a rapidly changing world. Leaders across the globe are working to build future-ready universities; institutions designed not only to adapt, but to lead with purpose, resilience, and long-term impact.
At every stage, institutions lead their own journey. UDI helps leaders navigate complexity, align stakeholders, and connect ideas to action. We bring a suite of design services, research capabilities, higher education expertise, and global perspective to the work of co-creating strategies and solutions built to endure.
Identify opportunities with internal and external stakeholders through discovery sessions Prepare for transformation by surfacing key priorities and design challenges Share best practices and innovative ideas that shape activation plans
Developing the next generation of leaders — Enable “Leaders as Designers” mindset and skillset in next generation leaders
re design
Generate design options that highlight innovation opportunities and inform future strategy
Develop transformation roadmaps that align priorities, timelines, and resources
Convene local and global experts to test ideas and refine direction
build
reSupport design and accelerate implementation of innovative ideas
Deliver custom workshops tailored to institutional needs and teams
Provide targeted consulting to address critical challenges and decision points
— Create capacity to innovate and transform institutions and the sector through Fellowships and Leadership programs
Navigating Complexity Together Strategic guidance and collaborative solutions
Higher education is being asked to solve problems that extend far beyond the boundaries of any single institution. Workforce readiness, social mobility, economic resilience, digital transformation, and planetary wellbeing are all now part of the university mandate, often shaped by policy, politics, and public expectation.
These challenges are deeply interconnected and system-level by nature. Addressing them requires more than good intentions or isolated innovation. They demand new forms of expertise, new design models, and collaborative networks capable of working across institutions, sectors, and borders.
At the University Design Institute, transformation begins by placing partners, and the outcomes they seek, at the center of the work. UDI supports leaders through a deeply practical, globally informed approach that respects local context while unlocking new possibilities. Solutions are not delivered; they are co-created, designed to be implemented, sustained, and capable of shaping not only institutions, but the societies and economies they serve.
Shared Transformation Objectives Across Higher Education Across countries and contexts, higher education leaders are working to:
· Expand access and participation without sacrificing quality
· Modernize hybrid and digital teaching and learning models
· Bridge workforce and skills gaps with industry alignment
· Strengthen faculty development and instructional capacity
· Improve student success, persistence, and completion
· Reduce structural and policy barriers that slow innovation
· Build scalable, sustainable operating models
· Ensure equity, relevance, and societal impact
Digital Transformation Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico)
Overview
Founded in 1792, the University of Guadalajara (UDG) is a co-educational, autonomous, public higher education institution serving diverse and numerous communities across and beyond Mexico. It currently serves 280,297 students in the 422 vocational, high school, undergraduate and graduate academic programs
The Need
Originally prompted due to disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, UDG and the University Design Institute forged a relationship that has lasted more than five years, primarily focused on expanding UDG’s ability to advance digital teaching and learning at scale.
2020
Faculty development course online
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, UDI rapidly launched an online course providing 4,000+ faculty members training for online teaching. This helped them build the skills and confidence they needed to continue education to more than 280,000 students.
2021
Leadership digital transformation workshops
UDI facilitated an immersive workshop at Arizona State University for 40 leaders across the UDG campus network on digital tools in order to transform UDG’s pedagogy and improve the overall learning experience.
2022
Faculty development workshops at UDG
UDI led a course redesign workshop with 200 UDG faculty members to create hybrid versions of courses, allowing for learner scale and flexibility. UDG faculty then collaborated with colleges from throughout their network to create prototypes and develop best practices for hybrid learning.
UDI’s Role
Throughout our relationship with the Universidad de Guadalajara, UDI has served as an expert and facilitation partner, supporting the development of the overall strategic vision, preparing faculty through digital courses and training programs, and driving key technical advancements across the university’s campus system.
“UDI provided expert guidance and a collaborative process that helped us achieve our digital transformation goals… Their deep understanding of online and hybrid learning and innovative teaching practices based on active learning are very important throughout our collaboration.”
Dr. Carlos Ivan Moreno
Former Dean of the Online University System, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico.
2023
Virtual University system reimagination workshops
UDI led workshops to reimagine UDG’s virtual university system, with the goal of growing online enrollment to increase learner access throughout Mexico and the Mexican diaspora in the United States.
2024
UDG Plus operational design services
UDI is using its DELTA framework to rebuild UDG Plus, its reimagined online services. DELTA evaluates institutional capabilities to deliver education through technology and develop critical strategies and tactics. UDG is focused on faculty development, instructional design, and student support.
2025
Expanding the future of learning
UDI and UDG explored new pathways to dramatically widen access to higher education, considering modular credentials, employer-aligned programs, and technology-enabled learner journeys that could reshape how millions engage with learning across their lives.
Student Pathways Ecosystem
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
Overview
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is the fourth-largest state college system in the United States, serving more than 270,000 learners across 26 colleges, 7 universities, and 54 metropolitan and rural campuses. The system educates a socioeconomically and culturally diverse population, with approximately 63% of Minnesota’s undergraduate students enrolled at a Minnesota State institution.
The Need
Supporting learner mobility at this scale requires coordination across institutions, policies, and systems. Fragmented transfer processes can create barriers that limit student success, persistence, and completion across the state.
UDI’s Role
Minnesota State partnered with the University Design Institute to redesign its transfer student ecosystem through UDI’s Design Accelerator, a multi-month, multi-institutional program that brings teams together to collaboratively address shared challenges. Guided by UDI’s IMPACT Framework and Arizona State
University’s Principled Innovation Framework, UDI facilitated structured workshops and coaching to help teams design, test, and refine prototypes. This work focused on improving processes and learner experiences while removing barriers within institutions, across the system, and statewide.
“
You saw that there was bold leadership, the ability to want to break down silos that we’ve traditionally seen in higher education to really think differently to be more student-centered and at the end of the day, supporting our students.”
Satasha Green-Stephen
,
Senior Vice
Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System
Bemidji State University & Northwest Technical College
Developed a Transfer Navigator, a multi-channel initiative to provide students with clear transfer pathways and customized support services through partnerships with local colleges.
Metro State University, Saint Paul College & Minneapolis College
Leveraged AI-driven equitable course equivalencies to simplify credit transfers and keep degree mapping current.
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Improved transfer student onboarding and communication by implementing preliminary credit evaluations, interactive onboarding experiences, and personalized course completion roadmaps.
e-Learning in Africa
Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program e-Learning Phase I & II
Overview
The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program e-Learning Initiative advances digital transformation and institutional resilience across 10 higher education institutions in eight countries, spanning Africa, Costa Rica, and Lebanon. The initiative supports innovative approaches to teaching and learning while strengthening institutions’ capacity to adapt in rapidly changing environments.
The Need
Institutions within the Scholars Program network faced significant disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, exposing gaps in digital infrastructure, instructional models, and institutional readiness. Beyond immediate continuity, there was a broader need to strengthen long-term resilience, align technology with institutional strategy, and create scalable approaches to digital learning that could serve diverse contexts and learners.
UDI’s Role
Arizona State University and the University Design Institute partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to support both Phase I and Phase II of the initiative. UDI facilitated strategic workshops to help leaders co-create solutions for scaling online learning and improving digital practices. Beginning in early 2025, UDI has led Phase II on behalf of ASU by convening leadership, faculty, staff, and students in collaborative design sessions. This work supports each institution in defining a shared future state and developing transformation roadmaps that align decisions, resources, and actions across their digital learning environments and operations. The Mastercard Foundation will support implementation of the transformation roadmaps within each institution, strengthening their capacity and the overall network.
“Institutions and Countries
African Institute for Mathematical Science, Pan-African
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Ashesi University, Ghana
EARTH University, Costa Rica
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Makerere University, Uganda
United States International University-Africa, Kenya
University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin
University of Gondar, Ethiopia
University of Rwanda, Rwanda
We have the opportunity to develop a community of practice to learn from each other’s work to digitize education. And we have the opportunity to work together to shape education across Africa.”
Reeta Roy, Former Mastercard Foundation CEO
We Understand Universities
Because UDI is embedded within Arizona State University.
Since 2001, Arizona State University has fundamentally redefined what a public research university can be, evolving from a regionally focused institution into a global model for innovation in higher education. ASU now operates as a living laboratory, where learner success, social impact, and industry collaboration are intentionally designed and continuously advanced. This transformation is anchored in ASU’s Charter and reinforced by a culture that expects innovation, experimentation, and measurable outcomes.
At UDI, we serve as a strategic design partner within ASU, working directly with university leadership to address complex, high-stakes challenges. Our work has helped shape new schools and colleges, launch forward-looking academic programs, and advance major institutional priorities, including the creation of ASU Health. Together, these efforts demonstrate how intentional design can drive transformation at scale.
We live the tension between tradition and transformation every day.
UDI supports the design and transformation within ASU, as well as developing the university’s next generation of leaders, strengthening capacity within our own institution.
70+
Design Engagements
UDI-led engagements have resulted in new and redesigned colleges, schools, and strategic initiatives.
800+
Leaders Trained Internally
UDI has trained faculty and staff leaders across ASU, expanding its capacity for innovation and ongoing transformation.
The Art of Co-Creation
Collaboration is the catalyst
Every partnership with UDI is grounded in co-creation, a collaborative, iterative process that empowers all key voices, including leadership, learners, staff, and external stakeholders, to reimagine, redesign, and rebuild a collective future, together.
Through UDI-led facilitated sessions and programs, institutional context and lived experience are brought into dialogue with
deep higher education expertise, including former university presidents, technology leaders, and public and non-profit partners. The result is not only stronger ideas, but aligned vision, empowered stakeholders, and solutions designed to be sustained long after the collaboration ends.
Co-creation is more than a method, it’s how UDI works.
The Holistic Approach
Where Unified Action Creates Lasting Impact
This holistic approach ensures transformation isn’t isolated or temporary, it’s structural, sustained, and scalable.
Leaders
Gain the tools and confidence to lead change.
Current and emerging leaders develop design expertise and practical methods to drive innovation. They learn how to translate bold ideas into actionable strategies that can accelerate and scale impact across their institutions and communities.
Institutions
Build the capacity to redesign from within.
Universities strengthen their ability to design, test, and implement new models of learning, governance, and engagement.
UDI equips institutions to align vision with structure, enabling them to lead transformation that lasts.
impact
Systems
Align diverse voices to remove barriers to change. System leaders engage stakeholders across multiple institutions to identify opportunities, address challenges, and create frameworks that make innovation possible. With UDI’s facilitation and design approach, systems move from fragmentation to collaboration, building shared momentum for transformation.
Country / Region
Shape policy and partnerships that scale transformation. Governments, funders, and regional leaders work with UDI to design policy environments and collaborative initiatives that strengthen national competitiveness and educational opportunity. By connecting institutions and stakeholders, they create conditions where innovation can thrive.
Strength in Numbers
A Global Network of Experts and Innovators
True innovation and change in higher education is built through shared experience, knowledge, and collaboration. UDI’s global network of leaders, experts, and organizations are driving education transformation around the world.
Together, this network gives our partners access to global perspectives, diverse expertise, and a trusted community of peers, ensuring that every solution we co-create is globally informed and locally relevant.
Global Fellows
Distinguished university leaders and higher education experts shaping systems worldwide
Design Experts
Specialists in collaborative design, facilitation, and strategic innovation practices
No university
“
What is necessary is for there to be a gathering point for people who have experienced knowledge, insights not just in one particular system, but in different systems across the world. And from that, to develop thinking about how other systems can emerge, can advance, can achieve the objectives of higher education.”
Sir Malcolm Grant, Global Fellow, UDI; Former Chancellor, University of York; Former President and Provost, University College London, United Kingdom
Universities & Partners
Institutions acting as living laboratories, piloting models to advance learning, research, and community impact
ASU Experts in Residence
Practitioners with decades of applied experience in higher education transformation
Collective Solutions
Where Ideas Become Action
Higher education faces pressures it can no longer address alone. Across countries and institutions, leaders are navigating shared challenges: how to remain relevant, equitable, agile, and impactful in a world transforming faster than the systems built to support it. Yet the people positioned to shape the future of higher education, policymakers, university leaders, industry innovators, community partners, and current and future learners, rarely come together to address these challenges collectively.
The result is a global sector attempting to reinvent itself in isolation, producing fragmented solutions that struggle to connect, scale, or endure.
The Co-Lab @ UDI was created to change this.
The Co-Lab is a collaborative design hub for higher education transformation, a space where bold ideas, lived experience, and global perspectives come together to imagine what higher education could become when it is designed collaboratively. Through the Co-Lab, UDI convenes its global network, draws on deep experience in international higher education, and leverages its position within Arizona State University as a living laboratory to surface insights, trends, and research shaping the sector today.
UDI actively welcomes outside voices to participate and shape the future of higher education through regional and topical programming, Emerging Futures Studios, and Dialogues for Design— ensuring that transformation is informed by diverse perspectives and grounded in real-world context.
Partnerships and policy are the scaffolding of systemic transformation.
Co-Lab
Proven in Practice
Change is possible, when guided by experience.
UDI’s Design Accelerator not only catalyzes creativity, it provides a reliable process — a playbook — for how to tackle the thorny challenges facing higher education.”
Dr. Dan Greenstein, former Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, United States
I realize I need to put my own voice out there and participate. Thank you for helping me find that courage. Now my voice is steady, and it’s being heard.”
Wihibemariyam Kasaye Asefa, graduate student at University of Gondar, Ethiopia
“ At the University Design Institute, we are
building a global capability for designing institutions that can affect outcomes at the country, state, and regional levels, through higher education and universities.”
““The Higher Education Innovation Leaders Fellowship opened our eyes to the problems and challenges of higher education in the Philippines. It’s a mission to help elevate the higher education landscape in the Philippines. And for me, that’s a personal mission.”
Bong Eliab, Executive Vice President Ateneo de Davao University, Philippines
I used to think it is difficult to change mentality and culture, and I felt lost … Now I think we have allies who believe in our mission and vision, and will guide us to become a better university.”
Kate Flores, Institutional Learning Director, Earth University, Costa Rica
Change is possible when we work together.
Michael M. Crow President, Arizona State University, Chairman University Design Institute
Vision Universities emerge as powerful engines of social transformation and economic impact.
Join us to co-create the future of higher education
UDI.ASU.EDU