“Higher Education in New Jersey: The Challenges We Face” is the subject of a webinar series being launched Thursday, January 16, by the New Jersey chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and the nonprofit Corporation for New Jersey Local Media.

New Jersey Higher Education Secretary Brian Bridges, County College of Morris President Anthony J. Iacono, Kean University President Lamont Repollet and AFT NJ President Jennifer S. Higgins are the featured panelists for the January 16 webinar, “Challenges for Higher Education: Looking at the Big Picture and the Demographic Cliff.” To register for the free webinar, which begins at 4 p.m., go to www.newsweneed.org.

“AFT New Jersey is excited to partner with the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media to enlighten current and prospective students — and citizens statewide — about the myriad challenges facing public higher education in New Jersey,” said Higginns, which represents more than 30,000 faculty and staff at New Jersey’s state colleges and universities and county colleges.

“The future of New Jersey’s higher education sector is a fitting topic for our mission to goal of promoting civic engagement and public discussion of the most critical issues facing our region,” said Amanda Richardson, executive director of CNJLM, whose New Jersey Hills Media Group is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit-owned weekly newspaper groups.

The second webinar will be held on Thursday, February 13, at 4 p.m. on “The Future of New Jersey City University.: Lessons from the Crisis.” A state monitor recommended last year that the financially troubled Jersey City university merge with another institution.

The third webinar, “Examining the Erosion of Tenure: Adjuncts, the Non-Tenure Track, and Contingent Work,” will be held on March 6th at 4 p.m.

“It would be disingenuous to sugarcoat the situation: We are facing a perfect storm,” Higgins said. “Funding over the past 20-plus years has been cut by almost 20 percent, the number of high school graduates is expected to decline by 15 percent by 2030 to 2035, and New Jersey is one of America’s top exporters of college-bound students, with over 50 percent exiting the state to pursue a college degree.

“AFT New Jersey knows that change is coming to the higher education landscape, and whether it has to do with tuition costs, faculty concerns or anything else happening on our state’s campuses, we want to be a part of the process that shapes the future of public higher education in the Garden State,” she said.