07-23-2025
At the 2025 Cornerstone for Business Conference hosted by the Daniels School of Business, former Purdue University President Mitch Daniels offered a candid, forward-looking critique of higher education’s value proposition and the reforms needed to meet today’s challenges. In a conversation with conference organizers Kelly Blanchard and Melinda Zook, Daniels drew on his decade of leadership at Purdue and his broader experience in business and public service to frame the stakes for students, universities, and society.
Daniels began by reflecting on the attributes that set Purdue graduates apart in the eyes of employers: a strong work ethic, practical knowledge and a willingness to add value. Yet, he emphasized a critical gap: communication. While Purdue students arrive with technical prowess, Daniels noted, “If they were able to share a little more effectively what they know, explain why they think that…write a memo that others could quickly absorb? Well, that’d be even better.” For Daniels, Cornerstone for Business — an integrated liberal arts initiative at Purdue — addresses this by cultivating critical thinking, ethical grounding and the ability to engage in public discourse, skills vital for both citizenship and economic success.
Daniels did not shy away from the sector’s broader challenges. He recalled his 2013 warning that higher education, due to “high costs, unaccountability, [and] stress on research over teaching,” was headed for a reckoning. That reckoning, he argued, is now visible in declining enrollments and rising skepticism about the return on investment. “Colleges that people were beginning to balk at, the value proposition-cost compared to what the quality of what they appeared, that they were buying…there was a serious problem with people being told what to think, not how to think," he said. Daniels stressed that institutions that recognized and addressed these concerns — especially around affordability and teaching quality — are better positioned to thrive.
Daniels highlighted new challenges posed by the digital age, particularly the “tension-diminishing effects” of social media and technology on students’ focus and engagement. He advocated for building students’ “immune system” against these distractions, suggesting that attention to digital literacy and self-regulation is now essential. With rapid advances in automation and AI, Daniels underscored the need for interdisciplinary education: blending STEM expertise with the critical thinking and ethical reasoning fostered by programs like Cornerstone. This, he argued, will uniquely equip graduates to lead, innovate and adapt in a world where “machine and humankind are merging.”
Addressing the balance between research and teaching, Daniels called for universities to “honor teaching” and recognize its centrality to their mission, especially when supported by public funds. He warned that if institutions fail to reform and acknowledge valid criticisms, external forces (like legislation) may impose changes, often less constructively.
Daniels closed with a call for higher education — especially business schools — to instill a sense of mission and integrity in graduates. He rejected the notion that business must be approached defensively, insisting instead that “what they’re going to go out there and do, if they do it well, is going to make the world better…create new jobs and opportunity and hope for all sorts of other people.”
Daniels’ insights challenge both educators and students to rethink the value of college — not just as a credential, but as a transformative experience preparing individuals for meaningful work, responsible citizenship and lifelong learning.
