2027 AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS)

The 2027 AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS) brings together higher education leaders, educators, and practitioners to address the most pressing challenges facing learning and student success. Focusing on turning ideas into action, the conference aims to improve learning and strengthen institutional outcomes by engaging participants across roles and disciplines to share expertise and explore effective practices. In an era of fractured public trust, constrained resources, and mounting institutional pressure, CLASS 2027 invites participants to rediscover higher education’s most enduring source of strength: each other. The year’s theme, ‘Together by Design,’ emphasizes that challenges cannot be solved in isolation but require intentional, sustained collaboration across campuses, communities, sectors, and borders. CLASS 2027 calls to move beyond competition and silos towards shared stewardship of learning and to rethink pedagogies and institutional architectures. It challenges competitive frameworks, duplicative structures, and territorial cultures, instead showcasing collaborative practices. Through shared learning and collaboration, participants explore evidence-based teaching and learning; student success strategies, including retention, progression, and graduation; data-informed assessment and decision-making; curriculum-to-career pathways; academic, cocurricular, and social supports; and professional development that strengthens institutional capacity. CLASS is a space to identify solutions, share ideas, and lead change for students, educators, and institutions.