The Hidden Accelerator: Continuing Education as a Catalyst for Growth & Sustainability in Post Secondary Institutions

Michelle Budiwski, MBA (HRMgt), PMP

When COVID hit in 2020, it didn’t just disrupt industries. It forced many of us to completely rethink who we were professionally.

For me, it meant the collapse of nearly 30 years of entrepreneurship overnight.

At the time, I was operating three businesses, including an escape room facility and design company with custom rooms in 42 U.S. states and 13 countries. Like so many others, I watched the global shutdown unfold in disbelief as industries closed, international partnerships disappeared, and the work I had spent decades building came to a halt.

And then came the question many professionals faced during that period:

Do I wait for the world to go back to normal, or do I pivot?

I chose to pivot. Actually I chose to retire but when that became boring after just three months, I decided to take my career into a whole new direction.

That decision eventually brought me into Continuing Education — and unexpectedly, into the work I now believe is one of the most important strategic functions in post-secondary education.

Continuing Education Is Not a Side Department

For years, many institutions treated Continuing Education as a support unit. A place for community courses, contract training, no-credit professional development or programs that didn’t fit neatly into traditional academic structures.

But the world has changed. First with the Covid-19 pandemic and now with a cap on International students across Canada – a federal government decision that has impacted programming and reveue generation across the sector from coast to coast to coat.

Post-secondary institutions across Canada are now facing enormous pressure and suddenly, Continuing Education is no longer peripheral.

It has become essential.

Why?

Because Continuing Education already operates like a business inside an academic institution. It is a profit center overing custom education solutions, at a price. That is Continuing Education.

We identify skills gaps. We develop solutions. We market programs. We build partnerships. We respond to industry needs in real time. And ideally, we generate revenue that supports institutional sustainability.

Continuing Education professionals are the entrepreneurs of post-secondary education.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset Matters

One of the biggest advantages I brought into education was not academic theory.

It was entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs are conditioned to:

• Solve problems quickly
• Adapt under pressure
• Identify emerging opportunities
• Build relationships
• Sell ideas
• Understand risk
• Pivot when markets change

That mindset became incredibly valuable in Continuing Education during and after the pandemic.

And yet, many Continuing Education departments were never originally designed to operate with the expectations now being placed upon them.

We are increasingly being asked to:

• Drive revenue
• Measure ROI
• Scale quickly
• Respond to labor market changes
• Build industry partnerships
• Launch programs rapidly
• Compete in a highly agile learning market

But many teams were never given the training, structures, or tools required to do that successfully. That is not a failure of people. It is a capability gap.

This Is Not a Potential Problem. It’s a Capability Problem.

One of the central findings of my MBA research was simple:

Most Continuing Education professionals absolutely have the potential to lead transformative growth within their institutions.

What they often lack is support, organizational learning opportunities, and cross-functional business training.

We cannot expect professionals whose careers were built in traditional educational models to suddenly become experts in:

• Sales
• Marketing
• Financial forecasting
• Industry consultation
• Business development
• Market analysis
• Strategic growth planning
• Customer Service

without giving them the tools to succeed.

As leaders, we often make a dangerous assumption: If someone is not performing at the expected level, they must be unwilling or incapable.

But frequently, the reality is much simpler:

They were never taught how.

Psychological Safety Drives Innovation

This is where organizational culture becomes critical.

If employees do not feel psychologically safe enough to say:

• “I don’t know how to do that.”
• “Can someone teach me?”
• “I need support.”
• “I’ve never done that before.”

then growth stalls.

People stop asking questions. They hide uncertainty. They avoid risk. Innovation disappears.

Throughout my research and conversations with hundreds of Continuing Education professionals, it is clear: the strongest Continuing Education teams are not the ones pretending to know everything.

They are the ones willing to learn quickly together.

Continuing Education Can Be the Strategic Engine of Institutions

Continuing Education departments have something many larger institutional systems struggle with:

Agility.

We can:

• Respond quickly to workforce needs
• Pilot new programming
• Build direct industry relationships
• Test emerging content areas
• Deliver short-term training rapidly
• Adapt curriculum in real time

In many cases, Continuing Education can act as the research and development arm of post-secondary institutions.

We are often the first to identify:

• Emerging labor trends
• Community needs
• Skills shortages
• Industry transformation

That makes Continuing Education far more than a service department.

It makes it a strategic accelerator for institutional growth and sustainability.

The Shift We Need to Make

If institutions want Continuing Education to function like a business unit, then we must start supporting teams accordingly.

That means investing in:

• Organizational learning and development
• Cross-functional business skills
• Financial literacy
• Sales and partnership development
• Market research capabilities
• Innovation culture
• Entrepreneurial leadership

It also means recognizing that Continuing Education professionals are not “less academic”: They are specialists operating at the intersection of:

• Education
• Business
• Workforce development
• Community engagement
• Innovation

And increasingly, institutional sustainability.

We cannot repair what we don’t acknowledge. We repeat what we don’t repair.

When COVID dismantled the business world I had built, I thought I had lost my direction.

Instead, I found work that aligned everything I had spent decades learning about leadership, creativity, entrepreneurship, adaptability, and human development.

What I discovered is this:

Continuing Education is not simply adapting to the future of post-secondary education.

In many ways, it is the future.

And if institutions are willing to invest in the people doing this work, Continuing Education has the potential to become one of the most powerful drivers of innovation, sustainability, and growth across the entire sector.