Nido Qubein, President, High Point University

Invest: spoke with Nido Qubein, president of High Point University, about the value of higher education, the school’s enrollment growth, and what industries are shaping their academic focus. “Everyone benefits when we can attract talent to the state and make this a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” Qubein said.

How has High Point University adjusted its strategy over the past year as expectations around the value of higher education continue to shift?

High Point University remains committed to providing our students with an extraordinary education focused on instilling life skills and offering hands-on learning opportunities. We understand that many students and families are now questioning the value of a college education. We recognized long ago that students and parents expect and desire maximum return on their investment. It is our job to ensure our students are prepared to compete with any graduate from any school after they graduate and enter an uncertain job market. Over the last two decades, we have built a university that is laser-focused on student success.

HPU has one of the best career placement rates in the country. For the fourth year in a row, 99% of our graduates have been employed within 180 days of graduation. We invest many resources into our students’ personal and professional transformation, including our nationally ranked Office of Career and Professional Development. The career advisors in this office connect our students with employers and prepare them to stand out in every part of the hiring process. At HPU, our faculty and staff listen to employers, who have consistently reported for several years that they need graduates who possess both technical skills and the life skills that outlast technical skills. We built our curriculum and our campus to deliver both. Even as AI is disrupting the workforce, our C-Suite research continues to show life skills as the critical set of skills necessary to thrive in the modern marketplace.

What do you see as the main drivers behind your continued enrollment growth, and how do you define return on investment for students today?

Our growth is being driven by something simple: families can see what they are getting. They appreciate HPU’s values, focus on life skills, graduate outcomes, and our responsiveness. We have a culture of service, and we strive to support our students and our families. We care about students. We don’t weed them out of the system. We weave them into the family.

They visit campus, they meet our faculty, they hear from our students, and they look at where our graduates end up, such as Morgan Stanley, Boeing, Coca-Cola, and Bloomberg, as well as at impressive law and medical schools.

Why? Return on investment for today’s student is no longer just a starting salary. It is the trajectory. It is whether a graduate can adapt when their industry changes, lead when their team needs it and build a life of both success and significance. We measure ROI in our high placement rates and in the life skills that we instill in our students, including motivation, emotional intelligence, communication and judgment. Those are the assets that compound over a 40-year career.

What role does the Charlotte market play in your growth strategy, and how does it compare to other areas in terms of opportunity and partnerships?

The role is two-fold. First, many Charlotte families send their students to High Point University. Those families appreciate that HPU instills life skills. They are excited that the university, ranked the #1 Best-Run College in the Nation by The Princeton Review, is located less than two hours from their home.

Second, HPU students hail from all 50 states and many countries across the globe, so we are also bringing talent into North Carolina. And Charlotte is an excellent place for those students to land internships or begin their career after graduation.

Having served on the board of Truist, headquartered in Charlotte, I have seen up close the kind of talent that the job market demands — and it aligns with the graduates we produce. Charlotte remains an important partner for us. Everyone benefits when we can attract talent to the state and make this a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

As demand for talent evolves, which industries are shaping your academic focus, and how closely are employers involved in guiding curriculum?

Very closely, and that is by design. We regularly survey C-suite executives across the country to understand what they actually need from new hires, and we let those answers shape our curriculum. When healthcare employers told us the region needed more dentists and optometrists, we opened the Workman School of Dental Medicine and began planning for a School of Optometry. When the legal community told us North Carolina had several “legal deserts” and needed lawyers trained with character and practical skills, we opened the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law. We have grown from three academic schools to 14 during my time as HPU’s president, and every one of those decisions was made with the marketplace in mind.

In addition to academic schools, our Access to Innovators program regularly brings industry leaders directly into the classroom. Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak serves as HPU’s Innovator in Residence and meets with our game design students to see the games that they have created. As HPU’s Entrepreneur in Residence, Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolph comes to campus and mentors our entrepreneurship students about their ideas for a new company. Global leaders are not reviewing our curriculum from a distance. They are inside the building. They are coming to campus and helping to shape the education that our students receive.

How are you balancing spending on campus facilities with new learning models such as flexible or technology-driven programs?

Learning facilities and technology-driven programs are intertwined, and HPU has a state-of-the-art learning model. When a student walks into a fully operational TV studio in our School of Communication, or makes trades in a market simulation room with a live stock ticker, or conducts scientific research in high-level biology and chemistry labs, they are using technology in the context of real-world preparation. That is why we built them. We want to prepare our students by giving them an opportunity for hands-on learning.

At the same time, we are investing thoughtfully in artificial intelligence. We have created a dedicated faculty development position to make sure AI is woven into our coursework in ways that are ethical and academically grounded, not reactive. The question is not physical campus versus digital tools. The question is whether students graduate prepared to use both well. Our answer is to give them fluency in each. As one example, we are launching AI Credential programs this fall.

Looking at student needs, what changes are you seeing in expectations around career outcomes, flexibility, and overall experience?

Today’s students arrive with sharper questions than any class before them. They want to know what their first job will look like, what their fifth job will look like and whether their four years in college will be worth what their family is investing. We owe them straight answers.

On outcomes, we deliver with our 99 percent placement rate for four consecutive years. This outcomes rate is 13 points higher than the national average, according to data collected by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. On experience, we believe students rise to the level of their environment, so we built an environment that signals seriousness about their futures.

Students also travel to such cities as New York City, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston to meet with professionals and get a behind-the-scenes look at careers in business, banking, professional sports, broadcast journalism and other industries. The trips as part of our HPU in the City program allow students to network, often leading to internships and jobs after college. And on flexibility, we offer real choice within a structured framework: 14 academic schools, internships, study abroad and micro-credentials in life skills such as motivation, coachability and emotional intelligence. We are in the business of preparing students, and we remain laser-focused on that mission.

As you look ahead, what are your top priorities for the next few years, and what signals are guiding where you choose to grow?

One of our top priorities is opening the John and Lorraine Charman Library in the heart of campus. It will serve as the university’s flagship library when it opens in 2027. This $100 million library will be state-of-the-art and takes us to a whole new level of learning, growing and maturing. We are also developing a School of Optometry, which will complement our existing graduate programs focused on healthcare and help meet a growing need for optometrists. And we are focused on continuing to integrate AI across our curriculum with the rigor and intention this moment demands.

The signals that I watch and which guide our decisions as a university are the same ones I have watched in my more than 20 years as HPU’s president: what employers are telling us they need, what families are telling us they value, and what our students are achieving after they leave. When those three signals point in the same direction, we move. We have bucked national enrollment trends because we listened to these different groups, and we will continue to do so to grow and continue to be The Premier Life Skills University.