Online Education Leadership
The resources, tools, and network you need to run a successful online enterprise
UPCEA is dedicated to advancing quality online learning at the institutional level. UPCEA is uniquely focused on excellence at the highest levels – leadership, administration, strategy – applying a macro lens to the online teaching and learning enterprise. Its engaged members include the stewards of online learning at most of the leading universities in the nation.
UPCEA advances online learning by providing:
- professional development and events
- industry-leading networking
- quality standards and best practices
- research and benchmarking
- advocacy; and
- consulting
UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence
Standards, aspirations, and principles essential to a successful enterprise
Online education is now critical for the future of America’s universities. Institutions can no longer establish a presence in this arena without a concerted institutional strategy and structure to accomplish this now major undertaking.
The UPCEA Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership are an attempt to articulate those features and principles that will create opportunities for students that far exceed anything already achieved in higher education, take pedagogy to a new level, and demonstrate the capacity of universities to be an even more vital force in our society.
The Hallmarks of Excellence in Professional and Continuing Education are an opportunity to define a set of standards that reflect the ambitions, potential, and importance of the PCE unit’s work—standards few achieve often enough to be complacent. Commitment to mission, enrollments, innovation, and academic excellence are the inseparable aspirations of professional and continuing educators.
These Hallmarks of Excellence presume that professional and continuing education is central, pervasive, and critical within institutions of higher learning—crossing internal boundaries and extending external ones, promoting change, and responding to current dynamics that convert challenges into opportunities.
The Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation are intended to be both aspirational and a practical toolkit to assist those in Online and Professional Continuing Education to think systematically and concretely about the nature of credentials at their institution as well as the strategy and logistical components of supporting learners throughout their lifetimes.
These Hallmarks focus on alternative credentials, which includes certificates, micro-credentials, digital badges, or micro-certificates, signaling specific competencies, certification, and sometimes licensure.
Benchmarking Research & Consulting
Data you can use, and the experts to help you get it
UPCEA offers the gold standard of research and benchmarking information in the industry through UPCEA Research and Consulting. Under the experienced leadership of Jim Fong, the UPCEA Research and Consulting conducts several free studies per year for the benefit of all UPCEA members.
Whether you need benchmarking studies, market research for a new program, or specific information to evaluate and develop strategies to take your online programs and instructional design to the next level, UPCEA Research and Consulting is the right choice. UPCEA also offers Peer Review Teams for on-site visits.
Career Center
Job Board - Connect the right person with the right role for your team
UPCEA offers online job recruitment advertisement on its website. Ads are posted immediately for members and within 2-3 business days for non-members. Ads are posted for 60 days. UPCEA also provides social media and publication promotion of job listings.
To submit an ad:
- If you want to post a job ad and have a UPCEA login, click here.
- If you are a non-UPCEA member: Please complete our online job ad form.
Benefits of a UPCEA Job Ad:
- Prominent mention in one of our UPCEA Briefing email communications sent to all UPCEA Members
- Posted to our social media pages
Rates Per Individual Job Posting:
Member Rate: $500
Non-member Rate: $675
If you have any questions or problems with posting a position on our Job Board, or are a third party posting on behalf of an organization and need to receive the member rate, please contact Brandan Kaiser at [email protected] or 202-844-4242.
For UPCEA internal positions, please follow the instructions for applying. We do not accept calls from recruiters.
There are no refunds given for job ads. Credit card payment due prior to posting of ads.
Executive Search with AGB Search
UPCEA has partnered with AGB Search to bring full executive search capabilities to professional, continuing, and online education. AGB Search is focused exclusively on all aspects of executive search for higher education institutions.
Publications
The timely and topical information you need
UPCEA Weekly Briefing
The UPCEA Weekly Briefing gives UPCEA members and others in the field a quick look at professional, continuing, and online education news, along with upcoming events and association updates. Delivered most weeks, this newsletter features content by and for our higher ed community.
Membership Matters
Membership Matters is a monthly newsletter exclusively for UPCEA members. Members have access to a wide array of benefits, including discussion groups, resources, and networking. Look forward to each issue of Membership Matters for membership news and updates on maximizing your benefits.
Unbound: Reinventing Higher Education
Unbound: Reinventing Higher Education is an online journal intended for all those who are interested in higher education issues, especially those that affect adult students. The name 'Unbound' calls to mind the many innovations that are taking place in education across our country and our world, where technology is helping us break the bonds of space and time to make education accessible to a broad audience. As educators, we no longer have to think in terms of limits, whether those are drawn by campus boundaries, geographic location, or even conventional definitions of school and community.
The possibilities for the future are boundless, and we hope to hear from those who are helping to lead the way.
UPCEA Blogs
Catch up on the latest news from the UPCEA blog suite
Generative AI Update for 2024 (The European Business Review)
Read Ray Schroeder and Katherine Kerpan’s perspective on where artificial intelligence is going in 2024. While the first full year of operation of ChatGPT, 2023, gave a foretaste of the enormous impact that AI is going to have on us all, 2024 shows every sign of boggling the mind even more. Here are some things…
How to Measure the Impact of Your Leadership Development Programs
No matter the size of your school or educational institution, it’s no secret that strong leadership is crucial to long-term success. Implementing leadership development programs is among the most effective ways to train aspiring educational leaders and ensure their goals and mission are aligned with that of the institution. At the same time, it’s not always simple…
Preparing for Our New AI Workforce in Higher Education
The recent rapid development of Generative AI (GenAI) has opened the possibility of far more efficient and cost-effective use of technology to assume the roles that are currently performed by humans. The World Economic Forum has estimated that artificial intelligence will replace some 85 million jobs by 2025. That’s only eight months away! A study…
New Report Reveals 61% of Higher Education Leaders Believe Continuing Education Units are Undervalued Compared to Traditional Departments
The 2024 State of Continuing Education study focused on institutions’ online and professional continuing education units program offerings, institutional support and capabilities, institutional integration and innovation, and continuing education collaboration and integration within the larger institution. Despite their role in shaping the modern learner’s journey, a staggering 61% of higher education leaders feel their professional,…
UPCEA and Search Influence Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Report: What Gets Measured Gets Managed
With the beginning of the “demographic cliff” upon higher education, college and university leaders need to rethink their institutional strategies. For institutions to survive or thrive in a new economy driven by automation and artificial intelligence, college and university leaders need to reassess their programs, promotion, pricing, and packaging (stackability), as well as their processes…
Benefits of Becoming a UPCEA Member
UPCEA, the online and professional education association, works to support its members by offering professional development, networking, and mentorship opportunities. As a collaborative and entrepreneurial community, we are proud of the fact that our members are thought leaders in the higher education administration field who continuously strive to improve educational access and outcomes for all students. Why UPCEA? The…
Seeking Tech Antidotes for Enrollment Cliff (Inside Higher Ed)
A looming enrollment cliff—expected to bring a massive dip in traditional-aged students—cast a shadow over conversations at the annual UPCEA conference last week. But many attendees at the online education–focused event in Boston sought to brighten the mood with solutions and tactics that included embracing artificial intelligence and pursuing personalized learning bolstered by microcredentials. “We’re…
Neg Reg on State Authorization, Distance Ed, Accreditation and Other Topics Fails to Reach Consensus, ED to Write Significant Changes | Policy Matters (March 2024)
Major Updates Negotiated Rulemaking Does Not Reach Consensus on Distance Education, State Authorization, Accreditation, and Other Topics The recent session of negotiated rulemaking at the Department of Education on Program Integrity and Institutional Quality concluded without reaching a consensus on several pivotal Issue Papers. The discussions were marred by considerable disagreement on key topics such…
Online Continuing Ed Programs See Improved Staffing but Problems Remain (Inside Higher Ed)
Online continuing education programs saw improved staffing and increased support from institutional leadership in the last year, but still face many challenges, according to a new report released Tuesday. The “State of Continuing Education 2024” from UPCEA, the organization previously known as the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, found that 45 percent of respondents said they have…
AI Digital Agents: Sending Advanced Computer Agents on Personal Tasks
This is not science fiction, rather it is science fact that we increasingly are sending Artificial Intelligent (AI) agents on our personal and professional tasks. We have discussed much about the development of AI capabilities in this column. We have reached the point of near-vertical expansion of AI speed, capacity and scope of knowledge. Elon…
Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Update by UPCEA
A curated, daily update of news, research, and trends brought to you by our Director of the National Council for Online Education, Ray Schroeder. See what's the latest in Professional, Continuing, and Online news!
Books
Featuring thought leadership from UPCEA members and others in the field
Using ROI for Strategic Planning of Online Education (2022)
Edited by Kathleen S. Ives and Deborah M. Seymour
Foreword by Paul LeBlanc
Published by Routledge in association with UPCEA
The Great Skills Gap (2021)
Edited by Jason Wingard and Christine Farrugia
Stanford University Press
Centennial Conversations: Essential Essays In Professional, Continuing, and Online Education (2015)
Edited by Daniel W. Shannon and Robert Wiltenburg
Foreword by Robert J. Hansen