Why PR May Be One of Higher Ed’s Most Urgent Strategies Right Now
Trust in colleges and universities is slipping. Public narratives about higher education are being shaped without institutional input. At the same time, search behaviors that marketing teams have spent years refining are being rapidly overtaken by artificial intelligence and that shift is fundamentally altering how visibility is earned and maintained. If institutions do not begin treating public relations as a strategic imperative they risk being left out of the conversations that define relevance.
The urgency becomes clearer when we look at the data. According to our 2026 Landscape of Higher Education Report, 74% of Americans in 2010 believed college was “very important” to success. By 2025, that number has dropped to just 35%, as shown in Gallup’s latest trend data. Meanwhile, the percentage of people saying college is “not too important” has increased fivefold. These are not isolated shifts in public opinion. They are broad signals that confidence in higher education is diminishing and with it, the sector’s influence in shaping the future workforce and civic landscape. The reality that this is not business as usual, but what comes next, is becoming harder for leadership teams to ignore.
Despite this, many institutions continue to rely on messaging frameworks and digital strategies that were designed for a web environment that no longer exists.
AI Is Rewriting the Rules Quietly and Quickly
Search behavior is evolving at a pace that is difficult to match and artificial intelligence is now redefining what visibility looks like. EducationDynamics’ Q3 2025 data shows that nearly 43% of all Google searches end without a click. In other words, users are getting their answers directly from AI-generated summaries, often without ever reaching an institution’s website.
That change does not diminish the importance of websites or blog content, but it does alter how they function. Pages that were once primary destinations are now source material feeding large language models and search algorithms. The value of that content is not in clicks alone, but in its ability to influence what AI tools surface in response to user questions.
The AI Visibility Pyramid featured in our 2026 Landscape of Higher Education Report illustrates how visibility is earned in this new environment. At its foundation is owned content, which includes blogs, faculty profiles, explainer articles and program pages. These assets contribute essential signals that shape how AI systems understand and rank institutional authority. However, they are not sufficient on their own. They must be elevated and validated through external sources to carry meaningful weight in this ecosystem.
Owned content becomes most effective when it is distributed and linked through credible channels. Media coverage, thought leadership placements and backlinks from high-authority outlets all play a critical role in reinforcing an institution’s visibility and shaping its reputation in the broader information landscape. What matters most is not just what institutions say about themselves, but where and how those messages are repeated, cited and trusted.
For leaders building their broader growth roadmap, the dynamics of AI, trust and visibility align directly with the strategies outlined in The 2026 Growth Strategy Higher Ed Needs Right Now and in the 2026 Higher Education Digital Marketing Trends and Predictions.
We Cannot Let the Work Go Unseen
The transformational work happening within higher education is substantial, but it is often not reaching the audiences who need to see it most. Whether it is a first-generation student securing a high-impact internship, a research partnership influencing policy or faculty-led innovation with industry implications, these stories are powerful proof points of institutional value. Yet too often, they remain confined within internal channels or are overlooked altogether.
Public relations plays an essential role in ensuring this work does not go unseen. Visibility must be actively cultivated, not assumed. Trust is built not only through consistent messaging, but through third-party validation that reinforces an institution’s credibility and relevance. As AI becomes the first layer of search for many users, the presence of credible, external proof will determine whether institutions are even included in the digital conversation.
The absence of that visibility has consequences. When institutions are not showing up in external media, not being cited in trusted sources and not contributing to narratives beyond their own platforms, they become harder to discover and easier to overlook. That decline in visibility often coincides with declines in public trust, prospective student interest and donor engagement. Reversing those trends begins with being present and recognized in the places that matter most.
For many colleges and universities, that also means grounding PR strategy in data from resources like the EducationDynamics’ Marketing and Enrollment Management Benchmarks, which tracks how visibility, demand and student behavior are shifting across the sector.
Public Relations Is Not a Press Release Function
In many institutions, public relations remains anchored to a traditional calendar of announcements tied to internal milestones. Press releases about new buildings, faculty honors, strategic plans and major gifts continue to dominate the output. While these updates have their place, they rarely break through the broader noise or shift the public narrative in a meaningful way. The same structural constraints that can keep marketing from leading, as we describe in Marketing Can’t Lead If Shackled by Structure, often limit what PR is allowed to be.
Today, public relations must function as a core strategic asset, not a service center. Its value lies in its ability to translate institutional mission and outcomes into public narratives that are credible, compelling and consistent with the institution’s brand. These stories should not be reactive, nor should they be generic. They should be aligned with the brand pillars that define what the institution stands for and where it is headed.
Institutions that claim leadership in areas like social mobility, research innovation or workforce readiness must make those claims evident through the stories they place and the voices they elevate. It is not enough to state the promise. It must be demonstrated through ongoing, credible engagement that reflects those themes in national and regional conversations.
This is where owned content and earned media intersect. Blogs, faculty profiles and campus features continue to matter, but they must be intentionally positioned and supported through media outreach and content distribution that expand their reach.
According to Muck Rack’s 2025 Generative Pulse report, more than 95% of the sources cited by generative AI tools are unpaid. Of those, 27% are journalistic, with the most frequently cited outlets including Reuters, NPR, the Associated Press, The New York Times and Bloomberg. These platforms are not pulling directly from institutional press centers. They are reflecting content that has been validated, shared and linked widely across trusted networks.
For institutions that want to shape public perception, these are the environments where visibility must be earned. That means placing stories where they will be seen, cited and shared. It also means ensuring that those stories reflect the strategic priorities and differentiators that define the institution’s place in a competitive market.
Leaders do not have to guess where to begin. EducationDynamics’ market research solutions and consulting services are built to help institutions translate insight into narrative strategy, then connect that strategy to measurable revenue and reputation outcomes.
Public relations is no longer optional. It is an infrastructure investment in how institutions are discovered, described and believed. It builds the signals that matter most to both human audiences and machine-driven systems. It is not enough to have a good story. It must be findable, credible and aligned with the identity the institution wants to project.
What Leadership Should Do Now
For presidents, CMOs and enrollment leaders, treating PR as infrastructure starts with a few concrete moves:
- Audit your external visibility
Compare how you are described on your own channels with how you show up in search results, media coverage and AI summaries. Identify the gaps between the story you tell and the story the market sees. - Align PR with brand and enrollment goals
Build PR around a small set of institutional themes, such as social mobility, research impact or workforce readiness, that reinforce your brand and support priority programs. Measure success in terms of visibility, inquiry growth and reputation, not just clips. - Prioritize a short list of voices and proof points
Elevate a consistent bench of leaders, faculty and partners who can speak to your themes with credibility. Match their stories to concrete outcomes, such as student trajectories, employer partnerships or policy influence. - Resource PR to lead, not just respond
Shift PR from a press release calendar to a proactive pipeline of narratives aimed at the outlets, conversations and audiences that matter most. Integrate that work with marketing, enrollment and crisis leadership, as we emphasize in Leadership Matters During Crisis.
These steps move PR from a communications activity to a strategic system that shapes how your institution is discovered and believed.
Leadership Cannot Afford to Miss This Moment
The question is no longer whether an institution is doing meaningful work. It is whether that work is being seen, cited and valued in the right places. Institutions that fail to show up in earned media, in search results and in national conversations are not simply underexposed. They are at risk of becoming irrelevant, not because they have failed to deliver, but because they have failed to be discovered.
The stakes of that visibility gap increase during times of disruption. The same is true for the sector’s own story. EducationDynamics’ In the News presence and Insights hub illustrate how consistent, strategic visibility can reinforce a clear point of view and a challenger mindset in the market.
This is not a short-term communications problem. It is a long-term visibility challenge. For colleges and universities that want to remain vital to the communities they serve, public relations may be one of the most urgent and strategic tools available right now. When PR is aligned with full-funnel marketing services, enrollment strategy and market intelligence, it becomes a force multiplier for both revenue and reputation.
Discover how we help institutions proactively shape their narrative in an AI-driven world. Contact the PR experts at EducationDynamics for a personalized discussion.