Shift from subsidies to endowments; what brings high enrollment
Even though Seventh-day Adventist-owned Andrews University is the oldest and arguably the academic touchstone among church-run institutions of higher education, its 14-year president doesn’t like the ‘flagship’ tag.
While such terms might be “catchy,” Niels-Erik Andreasen says they’re too often used to “accomplish through words” what’s not backed up by actions.
The professorial Dane, who formerly headed up Adventist-owned Walla Walla University in Washington, says his “ambition” for Andrews is more tangible. He’d like to see the southwest Michigan university “setting the academic agenda” among top, historic Christian universities in North America—such as Wheaton College and Valparaiso University—yet maintaining its uniquely Adventist orientation.
Established in 1874, Andrews University is named after John Nevins Andrews, the first overseas missionary sponsored by the Adventist Church. Andreasen holds two degrees from Andrews—a bachelor of divinity and a master of arts in Biblical Studies, which he earned after graduating with a bachelor’s in religion and history from church-owned Newbold College in England.
During his tenure at Andrews—the longest among Adventist university presidents—Andreasen, 67, has overseen a more public persona for the university and an emphasis on postgraduate education. Some 40 percent of the university’s students are now enrolled in advanced studies.
Recently, Andreasen sat down with ANN to discuss the university’s new $2 million main entrance, its role among the church’s other educational institutions and how the recent economic downturn might challenge Adventist education. Excerpts follow:
Adventist News Network: During your tenure at Andrews, you’ve witnessed a number of other Adventist colleges become comprehensive universities, such as Southern Adventist University and Walla Walla University. How does this change the role of Andrews?
Niels-Erik Andreasen: Andrews can no longer claim to be the only Adventist comprehensive university or even the biggest one—not in the United States, certainly not internationally. But it’s still the one to which people look to take the lead in quality of education, postgraduate studies and education that continues to combine faith-based thinking with higher academic qualities. We have words for that, like “flagship” and so on, but that can be misunderstood to mean, say, “more important” or something, but I think what it really means is that Andrews is the place where greater expectations may be placed. Our role is not merely to teach a bunch of classes and hand out degrees, but to think about what the position of this university—of all Adventist universities—should be in American higher education in the 21st century.
ANN: Some have suggested that the growth of other Adventist universities is drawing students away from Andrews. Do you see this as a problem?
Andreasen: No. Growing, and moving forward with a new idea is something we should do in the company of others. Some people may regret that there is Southern or Southwestern or Walla Walla or La Sierra, and I’m saying ‘No, that’s not something to regret, it’s an indication that Andrews is on the right path, carrying this legacy of leadership forward in this 21st century.’ It’s a little like the church’s non-smoking plan. For a while, the Adventists were the only ones doing it, and we were very proud of it. Now, you barely hear about stop-smoking plans because everyone is [stopping smoking. So I always consider it a blessing when other people join good ideas.
ANN: Andrews University recently overhauled its image. You’ve said most of the renovations—such as the café overhaul—are a practical, judicious use of funds. Some have said the new entrance seems largely aesthetic; what is your response?
Andreasen: The entrance may be more aesthetically visible, but even that had a practical side. Where the old sign was, there was a very dangerous entrance in the dip [in the road there] and we’ve had fatal accidents at that entrance since I’ve been at Andrews, so that’s the functional side. But fundamentally, this in my thinking: to share the core values of Adventist education, the university has to be both public and visible. It has to be seen in the world. And there’s lots of anecdotal evidence that suggests it wasn’t visible before. So yes, [the new entrance] is aesthetic, but it’s aesthetic with a message, and that message is ‘Here we are, this is the place to come and learn about the very best that Adventist higher education has to offer.’ You can’t pass by now and not notice.
ANN: You alluded earlier that an education at Andrews was inevitable for many students simply because they were church members and it was a church institution. Has that attitude changed over the years?
Andreasen: Yes, it used to be we would say, ‘If you bring together a bunch of Adventist students and Adventist teachers you’ve got Adventist education, by just bringing these people together.’ It’s not as simple as that anymore. I think there’s growing awareness among students and their parents that a good education can be had in many places. And so this monopoly we used to have—if you’re an Adventist wanting an undergraduate or graduate education, you come to Andrews—is lost. That means we now have to explain ourselves, justify ourselves. We have had to legitimize the conversation that we really never had before, and that is, ‘What is distinctive about this place?’ And it has to be defined in the context of higher academic quality, because that’s what’s being asked for now. Andrews is now seeking to demonstrate that higher academic quality by both external, common standards and by internal, Adventist standards.
ANN: The newest building on campus, the Howard Performing Arts Center, was fully funded by donations. Does this signal a shift from church subsidies to other ways of financing the cost of education at Andrews?
Andreasen: Andrews still gets church subsidies, but the future is certainly institutional development, even though we’re starting late in the game. We have to recognize that an institution like Andrews, which may charge its students 70 percent of the cost of teaching them, means that there’s 30 percent of the cost associated with teaching students for which students do not pay. It’s been my understanding that Adventist education will not survive to the end of this century unless we find other sources of income, unless we create some development activities. Not because the church is unwilling to give us money, but because the church subsidies, though they’re growing, are not growing at anywhere near the clip of the growth in educational costs. This building [knocks on desk in administration building] was built with church money. The fine arts center didn’t see a dime of church money. So yes, that’s a huge shift. This is coming late and it’s difficult, but Andrews University must be out front in that effort, not that it needs to get more money than anybody else, but it must have a good development program that will support endowments and the future of the university.
ANN: How strong is enrollment at Andrews right now?
Andreasen: During my time here, it’s been up and down several times. It was very high in the late ‘90s, the highest we had had in our history, then it dropped, and it’s now been growing again. That’s a reminder that this is a dynamic kind of business. There are many factors. One was 9/11, which was a huge blow to Andrews. Our international student population dropped—they couldn’t get visas. Since 2004, however, enrollment has been increasing every year, to varying degrees. This year, we enrolled almost 200 new students. The staff in Enrollment have combined Marketing and Recruitment with Enrollment, which has been very good for Andrews. I think the enthusiasm of the leadership on campus has also contributed to [enrollment increases]. The highest enrollment happens to be in schools where there are new deans who have brought enthusiasm to the task. The new students who have come to campus are not the ones we lost. We have a bunch of new students in architecture; we didn’t have them in 2000. Last year we had a lot of growth in the music department, probably connected to the Howard [Performing Arts Center], which opened in 2003. The seminary had enormous growth after the new building was built, from 450 to about 900 students. So the growth has happened for the most part in new areas that didn’t have this growth before the dip. My comment to my colleagues is, ‘Let’s thank God for it, but not take it for granted.’
ANN: How significantly do you see the recent recession affecting Andrews?
Andreasen: We don’t know the full extent of the economic downturn, but we’re concerned about it. It stands to reason that in an economy where people are scaling back—they can’t buy cars, they can’t buy houses—that students also won’t buy education. They may think, ‘Why buy expensive education when it can be had cheaper elsewhere?’ I think that parents and students who do want to come to Andrews will find a way to work out the financial stresses up to a point, but we cannot deny that there comes a point when it becomes, ‘This is more than we can afford, what do we do now?’ I would not be surprised, I think we may have to supplement marketing and recruitment with some hard cash. That is one possibility to help students get over this hump. We had to do that about seven years ago with our Asian students who enrolled just as the Asian economy collapsed and the money had just dropped to half the value. It’s possible that we’ll do something similar again because of extraordinary external circumstances.