Deepening Relational Capacity to Confront the Polycrisis in Higher Education and Beyond

The authors examine the multifaceted challenges confronting Canadian higher education within a context of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, as well as amid multiple overlapping crises. They analyze ten challenges: uncertain finances; an affordability crisis; complexities of equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and Indigenization; intergenerational dissonance; public (ir)relevance; ecological destabilization; ambivalent AI; a mental health epidemic; hyper-polarization; and a lack of capacity for coordination. While these issues pose serious threats, the authors argue they also present opportunities for higher education to lead transformative change.