2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10

2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10: Making Connections

The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 tells a decidedly human story about what higher education technology leaders will be focused on in the year ahead.

Alongside their ongoing nurturing of institutions' technologies and data, technology leaders will also be nurturing connections among and between the people at their institutions—their senior leaders, staff, faculty, and students.

The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 reminds us that it won't be a silver-bullet solution—or even artificial intelligence (AI)—that will get our institutions to the other side of our present moment.

New this year: The Top 10 is more focused and more actionable than ever. The Campus Spotlight and Ways to Get Started sections offer powerful examples of how you can put each priority into practice.

Explore the Top 10 

Infographic: Making Connections

The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 highlights how higher education technology and data leaders can foster a collective will and support individual capabilities—two deeply connected actions that will help institutions thrive in the year ahead.

What People are Talking About

View the Shop Talk podcast video recorded live at the 2025 EDUCAUSE Annual conference with Crista Copp, Mark McCormack, Jenay Robert, and Sophie White, featuring the biggest questions about this year’s Top 10.

Explore the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference General Session presentation of the 2026 Top 10 (PDF)

What Industry Partners are Talking About

We sat down with CDW, Gartner, and Jenzabar to get their insights and recommendations on the 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 and the challenges facing higher education. Explore the corporate perspectives

• CDW interview with Michael Durand, Director, Higher Education Sales at CDW
• Gartner interview with Terri-Lynn Thayer, Managing Vice President, Education Research, at Gartner
• Jenzabar interview with Sam Burgio, President and Chief Operating Officer at Jenzabar

How the Top 10 Are Selected

Once a year, members of the EDUCAUSE Top 10 Panel select a slate of 15–20 topics they believe will be the most important technology issues facing higher education institutions. EDUCAUSE members receive a survey with those topics and are asked to prioritize them. The 10 issues with the highest-priority scores become the EDUCAUSE Top 10.