Major Updates

 

  • New Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency Final Regulations Released – Effective July 1, 2024

    The US Department of Education has released final Gainful Employment and “Financial Value Transparency” regulations. The Gainful Employment (GE) regulations include new and higher bars for career programs and connecting outcomes to programs offered by private for-profit institutions as well as those who provide certificate and non degree programs at all types of colleges and universities. The included metrics are determined based on a “debt-to-earnings ratio” (the share of a graduate’s income to debt payments) and an “earnings premium” (whether more than half of the program’s graduates have higher earnings compared to those of high school graduates in their state who have never enrolled in postsecondary education). These calculations will work separately and together to determine whether an institution will be eligible for federal financial aid, as well as whether they need to warn students that the program does not meet these requirements, and is at risk of losing access to federal financial aid.     

    Separately, the Financial Value Transparency part of the regulations are not GE specific, and apply to all programs at all institutions. But, this application is markedly different from the GE regulations, as this area will not affect eligibility of federal financial aid. However, within these regulations is a new notification for any and all programs at institutions in which they do not meet the new standards, where students will be provided with disclosures and acknowledge that they are about to enter into a program which may have high debt burdens or may not make more than their peers who did not attend college and graduated high school in their state.The final GE and Financial Value Transparency regulations will be published officially on October 10, 2023. An unofficial copy of the regulations can be found here. A fact sheet from the Department of Education on the regulations can be found here. The Department also released comprehensive data on the estimated effects of the rule on most specific postsecondary programs in May. That information can be found here, along with a description of the data, and a data codebook.

    Those of you following along with Policy Matters may also have questions around the other topics which were originally packaged as part of the NPRM that the Department started with the proposed regulations topics, which in total, included: Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment, Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, and Ability to Benefit. There were some significant questions within the Certification Procedures relating to the applicability of NC SARA and state laws, as well as other concerns with state licensing requirements and Administrative Capability which was of concern to the UPCEA community. The Department has noted that the recent final regulations contain only provisions on Financial Value Transparency and GE, and they plan to publish another final rule with the remaining four topics at a later date.

 

 

  • Education Department Faces Potentially ‘Disruptive’ Shutdown (Inside Higher Ed)
    “A potential government shutdown could complicate the restart of student loan payments, efforts to issue final rules and the FAFSA update.The looming government shutdown could wreak havoc on the U.S. Education Department’s jam-packed fall plans. Student loan payments resume Sunday—the day after funding for the government will run out unless Congress acts this week—and the agency is set to start negotiations over a new plan for student loan forgiveness in a few weeks. Department staff members are also working to issue final rules on Title IX and gainful employment. Plus, a new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is set to launch in December.

    All this means that an October shutdown could cause a mess for the agency, depending on how long the funding lapse persists, though student loan payments will restart regardless of whether the government stays open….The specifics of the shutdown contingency plan haven’t been released, but under the department’s recent shutdown plan from September 2021, about 90 percent of its staff would have been furloughed. A skeleton crew would remain to maintain the student loan program. Meanwhile, the Office for Civil Rights would pause its investigations and the department would stop developing guidance, technical assistance and regulatory actions. A shutdown does create some additional challenges for colleges and universities, depending on how long it lasts.” Read more.

 

 

Other News

When it comes to artificial intelligence and higher ed, the excitement and hype are matched by the uncertainties and need for guidance. One solution: creating an AI advisory board that brings together students, faculty and staff for open conversations about the new technology.

That was a key idea presented at the University of Central Florida’s inaugural Teaching and Learning With AI conference, a two-day event that drew more than 500 educators from around the country.

AI has had a “breakout year,” said Ray Schroeder, a senior fellow at UPCEA (and a contributor to Inside Higher Ed). Schroeder, who has recently focused on the intersection of AI and higher education, opened the conference seeking to help faculty, administrators and staff attempt to navigate the choppy waters of AI.

Read the full article.

Addressing the Digital Divide in the Age of Cybersecurity

As technology and the internet continue to reshape modern education, the question of equitable access to these resources becomes more pressing. Educational institutions, governments, and private organizations are working diligently to bridge this digital divide, with cybersecurity emerging as a key concern. Strategic partnerships can play a key role in ensuring that education is not only accessible to all, but also safe and secure.

Before diving into the solutions, it’s essential to understand the problem. The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to modern information technology and those who don’t. In education, this gap can lead to significant disparities in learning outcomes. Students without access to the internet or digital devices at home often struggle to complete assignments, engage in remote learning, or access additional educational resources.

The Role of Cybersecurity in Education

While access to technology is crucial, it’s equally important to ensure that these technologies are safe. With an increase in cyber threats targeting educational institutions, from ransomware attacks to data breaches, cybersecurity cannot be an afterthought. Schools and students need to be protected and educated on how to navigate the digital world safely.

Strategic Partnerships: A Multi-Faceted Solution

To address both the digital divide and the cybersecurity concerns, strategic partnerships between various stakeholders can pave the way. Here’s how:

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): Governments can work with technology companies to provide subsidized devices or internet connectivity to underprivileged students. In return, these companies can benefit from tax breaks or other incentives.

Educational and Tech Collaboration: Educational institutions can collaborate with tech companies to develop tailored educational software that’s both accessible and secure. Platforms like Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, when used correctly, can offer seamless and safe learning experiences.

Non-Profit and Corporate Alliances: Non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting education can partner with corporations to fund projects, develop infrastructure, or provide resources, ensuring a safer and more inclusive educational environment.

Community Engagement: Local businesses and communities can play a role by hosting workshops, providing shared spaces for learning, or sponsoring students in need. By taking a collective approach, communities can ensure that their youth have equal opportunities and the tools to protect themselves online. 

Cybersecurity Training Initiatives: Organizations specializing in cybersecurity can offer training programs to schools, teachers, and students, ensuring they’re aware of potential risks and equipped to handle them. These partnerships can also pave the way for student internships, creating a cycle where educated students enter the cybersecurity workforce and then give back to their communities.

As an example, this year ThriveDX joined forces with coalition OneTen and nonprofit BlackGirlsHack to bridge the gap and create paths for under-resourced and underserved communities to receive relevant cyber training and start a lucrative career in cybersecurity. Following the release of the White House’s National Cybersecurity Workforce and Education Strategy, ThriveDX announced commitments to increase employment and training opportunities for underrepresented and underserved communities in the cybersecurity field, which resulted in the White House naming us one of nine partners and detailing our planned initiatives. 

Equity in access to education is a multifaceted issue that requires collaborative efforts from various stakeholders. With the rise of digital learning and the increasing importance of cybersecurity, forming strategic partnerships becomes not just beneficial, but necessary. Through collaborative initiatives, we can ensure that every student, regardless of their socio-economic background, has access to a safe and secure education in the digital age.

Learn more about the partnerships ThriveDX is cultivating in order to increase equity in access to cybersecurity education by visiting our website. 

It is human nature to experience a new technology and think that’s the ultimate version of such technologies. 

We too often fail to recognize that the latest iteration of a development is only one station along the continuum of developments. We focus on the current hype, which may be accurate for today, but we miss the point that our history of humankind’s use of technology is comprised of a string of linked developments and enhancements of products and tools, each one with more features, better features or greater economies than the prior one. 

And, so it is with Generative AI. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was the first Generative AI tool broadly released and received widespread coverage. Many in the general public assume it is the sum product of GenAI, yet there are many versions out now, each with its own strengths and comparative shortcomings compared to the others. These tools continue to develop weekly, if not daily. Collectively, they are revolutionary and exciting to explore. I am awed and inspired daily by the things that I can do with the half-dozen GenAI apps that I regularly use. I use different ones for different applications. Collectively, they promise to revitalize me as a thinker and writer in the field of educational technology.

Amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring (and those are only the adjectives starting with the letter “a”) just begin to describe what can be ably, efficiently and economically accomplished with the help of Google Bard, ChatGPT, Claude 2, Bing, Perplexity, Hey Pi, and the rest of their GenAI tool cohort. Create a serviceable syllabus in ten seconds. Done. Write alternative lesson plans with assessments in fifteen seconds. Done. Create a spreadsheet of data culled from multiple sources and provide an analysis and predictions in thirty seconds. Done. Provide me with useful psychological support and advice. Done. And, that doesn’t begin to touch the image-generation potential.

I am as guilty as the next writer. I seize on these abilities and fall short of projecting the next successive steps that will lead us forward. For example, Auto-GPT is a developing app that significantly extends the capabilities of other GenAI apps. Researcher Tayyub Yaqoob writes in Coin Telegraph “The capacity of Auto-GPT to self-generate prompts to perform tasks, as well as its ability to connect with apps, software and services both online and locally, distinguishes it from other AI solutions. This means that, given a goal, Auto-GPT can devise a plausible advertising approach and create a rudimentary website.” It doesn’t merely answer questions, rather it can go online, self-select and run programs it deems useful to accomplish your objective, and collect and validate external data in an unsupervised machine learning mode. The autonomous abilities take what most of us think of as GenAI to the next level of actually taking independent action on its findings, rather than merely reporting the findings to you.

Will Douglas Heaven writes in MIT Technology Review that “interactive AI” may be the next step in the continuum of development of GenAI.  Heaven writes “DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman wants to build a chatbot that does a whole lot more than chat. In a recent conversation I had with him, he told me that generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI: bots that can carry out tasks you set for them by calling on other software, other databases, and other people to get stuff done…. Suleyman is not the only one talking up a future filled with ever more autonomous software. But unlike most people he has a new billion-dollar company, Inflection, with a roster of top-tier talent.”

Interactive AI will surpass Generative AI in most ways. It will become more than a question-answerer. The coming version of AI will take initiative to pursue your goals by running programs, even contacting and engaging other people on your behalf to advance the mission you have given it. It will truly become an autonomous assistant.

A further next step in the AI development continuum may be the application of quantum computing to artificial intelligence. Yuval Boger writes in Datanami “Quantum machine learning could classify larger datasets in less time, and quantum neural networks could process information in ways that classical neural networks cannot. While existing AI tools are powerful and practical for many applications today, quantum computing represents a new frontier with the potential to significantly advance the field. However, the road to practical quantum computing is long and filled with challenges. It will likely be some time before quantum computers are more powerful and ready for widespread use in AI.”

Wikipedia offers a couple of definitions of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), notably beginning with AGI as an agent. “An artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a hypothetical type of intelligent agent.[1] If realized, an AGI could learn to accomplish any intellectual task that human beings or animals can perform.[2][3] Alternatively, AGI has been defined as an autonomous system that surpasses human capabilities in the majority of economically valuable tasks.[4] Creating AGI is a primary goal of some artificial intelligence research and of companies such as OpenAI,[4] DeepMind, and Anthropic.”

Open AI seems to have its sights set on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Steven Levy, writing in Wired article “What OpenAI Really Wants” says “For Altman and his company, ChatGPT and GPT-4 are merely stepping stones along the way to achieving a simple and seismic mission, one these technologists may as well have branded on their flesh. That mission is to build artificial general intelligence—a concept that’s so far been grounded more in science fiction than science—and to make it safe for humanity. The people who work at OpenAI are fanatical in their pursuit of that goal. (Though, as any number of conversations in the office café will confirm, the “build AGI” bit of the mission seems to offer up more raw excitement to its researchers than the “make it safe” bit.) These are people who do not shy from casually using the term “super-intelligence.” They assume that AI’s trajectory will surpass whatever peak biology can attain. The company’s financial documents even stipulate a kind of exit contingency for when AI wipes away our whole economic system.”

So, technology builds upon technology. As with many developments in this field, it is expected that progress will continue to accelerate, bringing super-intelligence in an early form sooner than we previously expected. Is your university preparing for the next steps in AI? Are you planning for the impact this will have in each of your departments, disciplines, curricula, careers, and the implications for society as a whole? Now is not too soon to begin to plan for these changes and a smooth transition to serving changing learner needs as they navigate the changes.  The future is closer than we think.

 

This article was originally published in InsideHigherEd’s Transforming Teaching and Learning Blog. 

At a time when enterprises are racing to experiment with fast-growing artificial intelligence capabilities, cloud computing is increasingly relied upon for organizations to operate efficiently and connected devices are proliferating at a staggering pace, harnessing emerging technology is becoming a leading priority for companies in all sectors and geographies.

That means companies are on the lookout for professionals with emerging technology knowledge and skills. Consider:

The impact of artificial intelligence on the current business landscape – and the anticipated even greater impact of AI in the years to come – is especially striking. As ISACA’s white paper, The Promise and Peril of the AI Revolution: Managing Risk, indicates, organizations need to act with urgency in hiring and cultivating professionals capable of assessing AI risks and opportunities alike.

“The breakneck pace of the market – and the calls for regulation – may convince leaders to pause before official AI adoption or strategy work,” according to the white paper. “But as with so many technologies, users have already surged ahead, creating a movement that demands action now. Analysis and action cannot wait, and the organizations that act fast will create the strongest foundation and prosper the most from this new era of artificial intelligence.”

Whether it is AI, cloud platforms, blockchain, Internet of Things devices, or other emerging and maturing technologies, a common thread is that organizations are looking for innovative ways to leverage data – gather it, analyze it, protect it and, in many cases, profit from it.

It’s no surprise that many of the most coveted skills from employers center on the intersection of emerging technology and data. According to ITCareerFinder, the top 10 IT-related skills in-demand for 2023 are:

  • Cloud computing
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data science
  • Data analysis
  • DevOps
  • Machine learning
  • Product management
  • Software development
  • Systems and networks

While some larger companies, such as consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, are providing training to their full US workforces on AI, that is not yet the norm, meaning professionals often have to proactively seek out the AI skills and training they need to be successful as their roles evolve. That can take place as part of the academic pursuits for students preparing to enter the workforce or through a variety of training courses and credentials offered by professional associations and industry groups.

Increasingly, universities are adding programs – both bachelor’s and advanced degrees – in artificial intelligence, either as standalone areas of focus or, in some cases, as part of computer science programs. Similarly, universities in recent years have added programs in emerging technology-focused fields such as cloud computing, cryptocurrency and data science.

However, while many universities are recognizing the demand for new degree offerings in technology fields, academic institutions face inherent, structural challenges with being able to keep pace with the rapid evolution of the technology landscape. And even students who are able to earn degrees focused on emerging technology will need to refresh their knowledge as their career progresses, given the rapid rate of change on the technology landscape. That is where an array of technology certifications, certificates and courses can help fill in gaps.

For example, global digital trust association ISACA offers the Certified in Emerging Technology (CET) credential, which includes stackable certificates in Cloud Fundamentals, IoT Fundamentals, Blockchain Fundamentals and AI Fundamentals. Microsoft (Certified: Azure Fundamentals) and IBM (Artificial Intelligence Analyst Certificate, AI Engineering Professional Certificate) are among the other organizations that have put forward credentialing resources in this space.

There are other, less intensive knowledge resources available as well – videos, online courses, white papers, and more. Whatever learning path they choose, practitioners will need to seek out emerging technology expertise on an ongoing basis to equip themselves for success in an increasingly technology-centric professional landscape.

ISACA’s Academic and Workforce Partnership Program partners with schools, colleges and universities around the globe to give students the opportunity to enhance their learning experience through credentials and certifications that provides the necessary skills to begin a career in IT audit, risk, security, cybersecurity, governance or privacy. We provide students with the knowledge, skills and abilities mapped to job practices and deliver them at scale. Our focus is on bringing these opportunities to high schools, colleges and universities all over the world in order to promote greater equity, inclusivity and accessibility to aspiring Information Systems, IT, Cybersecurity professionals, regardless of skill level.

Our graduating and certificate-completing students need documented generative AI skills, and they need them now.

The common adage repeated again and again is that AI will not take your job; a person with AI skills will replace you. The learners we are teaching this fall who will be entering, re-entering or seeking advancement in the workforce at the end of the year or in the spring must become demonstrably skilled in using generative AI. The vast majority of white-collar jobs will demand the efficiencies and flexibilities defined by generative AI now and in the future. As higher education institutions, we will be called upon to document and validate generative AI skills.

Writing online in SHRM HR Topics, Kathy Gurchieck reports,

“Workers in the U.S. and around the world are using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT for a variety of tasks. And that’s a problem. Business leaders don’t think their teams have the necessary GenAI skills to use these tools, workers say they don’t have the necessary skills and HR managers are anticipating a GenAI skills gap, according to various surveys. In fact, 62 percent of 4,135 full-time workers surveyed in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. said they lack the skills to effectively and safely use GenAI, 67 percent expect their employers to train them, and 66 percent said that’s not happening, according to Salesforce’s Generative AI Snapshot Research Series.”

Students themselves recognize the future of their careers is dependent on their knowledge and facility with applying generative AI to their jobs. Vala Afshar, writing in ZD Net, reports, “Research suggests students want to be prepared for the future of work. Nearly half (47%) of students reported selecting their institution for career prospects, but only 11% felt very prepared for work. Students who feel well-prepared are four times more likely to have a great university experience. In addition, nearly half of students (49%) plan to continue learning through a higher education institution after graduating.”

The timeline for demand for generative AI–competent workers is accelerating. In their July 26 report on “Generative AI and the Future of Work in America,” McKinsey reports, “All of this means that automation is about to affect a wider set of work activities involving expertise, interaction with people, and creativity. The timeline for automation adoption could be sharply accelerated. Without generative AI, our research estimated, automation could take over tasks accounting for 21.5 percent of the hours worked in the US economy by 2030. With it, that share has now jumped to 29.5 percent.”

This demands that we integrate the appropriate skills and knowledge into our learning outcomes for classes and for programs. In addition, learners will be best served if we can provide opportunities for them to build portfolios of meaningful and relevant generative AI activities. These should be designed so that they can be assessed by our professors as well as HR departments and hiring managers at companies, agencies, and associations.

So, how do we implement practices that will best enable our students to compete for entry-level and advanced jobs that require generative AI knowledge and skills? And how do we ensure that we are providing them with the latest information that is relevant to the positions they are most likely to seek?

We need a coordinated and streamlined process to implement as soon as possible. Some steps that will be important to include are:

  1. First, we need to identify baseline information and skills that are relevant in almost every field. We should test the list of these skills with our own university HR department as well as HR offices at local and regional employers of our graduates and certificate completers. These will include familiarity with how generative AI works and basic experience in formulating effective prompts for a range of bots and apps that are most common at the time. These topics could be integrated into a self-paced, noncredit series of modules that comprise a basic introduction to generative AI. Ideally, these would begin to be offered this fall semester so that upcoming completers would be able to finish the modules before they apply for jobs. The program should include a portfolio of the learner’s work that would be associated with a badge or certification. The portfolio will offer prospective employers samples to examine in order to make informed hiring decisions. It is important that annual or semiannual module updates are provided, and that learners be permitted to complete the updates in order to keep their certificate relevant and up to date. They could be provided as stand-alone electives or integrated into relevant courses.
  2. Each college and, in many cases, each academic department should invite HR personnel from local and regional employers of their graduates and certificate completers to campus meetings. Relevant national employers could be invited to Zoom sessions. In these meetings, the university personnel can establish common practices and expectations for generative AI knowledge and skills tied to specified ranges of positions. These can then be used to create customized modules for learners seeking employment in those positions. A validated portfolio of the learners’ work can be associated with the activities.
  3. In some cases, it may make sense to integrate such generative AI learning modules into existing senior capstone classes that will assure that the material is as relevant and timely as possible to be taken immediately before students pursue employment interviews.
  4. The modules that comprise a certificate in this area should be reviewed and updated at least annually to ensure they are tied to the latest practices and software.
  5. Review committee meetings should be held with the local, regional and national employers every semester or year to ensure that the practices, skills and knowledge that are captured in the learning outcomes are still relevant and to the point. Such an approach may be adapted to meet evolving departmental and institutional needs.

What is your institution doing to ensure that learners are qualified to optimally use generative AI in the workplace? This is a top priority for students and employers; is it a top priority for your university? What can you do to help to advance this initiative?

 

This article was originally published in InsideHigherEd’s Transforming Teaching and Learning Blog. 

As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. And now going big applies to microcredentials.

The University of Texas System, spanning nine academic campuses with roughly 240,000 students, is expanding its partnership with microcredential provider Coursera. The initiative announced last month is Coursera’s largest, aiming to reach 30,000 students with 35 courses by 2025.

Microcredentials are small, buildable credits that help students earn certifications in high-demand skills such as cybersecurity. They’re not new—the State University of New York has had an expansive program since 2018, and Spelman College recently made headlines for garnering nearly $2 million in revenue with its own certificate programming.

UT’s partnership with Coursera, which works with universities providing online courses and certificates, began in December 2022. A pilot program included 3,000 students, who completed more than 6,000 courses.

[…]

“What UT is doing is making it part of its education; it’s not one or the other,” said Jim Fong, chief research officer at the UPCEA. “It’s the whole smaller modules of learning that can fit into a degree. They’re trying to make things stackable. If folks cooperate and collaborate, the long game plays out and both parties can win.”

Read the full article.

 

UPCEA Research and Consulting is Growing: As a leader in Professional, Continuing, and Online (PCO) education, UPCEA’s Research and Consulting group continues to expand, aligning with the evolving needs of higher education institutions. Our industry experts bring years of experience to provide unparalleled value in the industry.

Welcome Stacy Chiaramonte: UPCEA proudly welcomes Stacy Chiaramonte as the new Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations. Beginning with her recent role as the Associate Vice President for WPI’s Graduate & Professional Studies, Stacy’s remarkable journey includes more than two decades of experience in strategic planning, coaching, leadership, and operations.

Stacy’s visionary leadership has significantly impacted student-centric education, particularly for post-traditional students online. Her pivotal role in leading WPI’s exploration of alternative credentials as part of the university’s 5-year strategic plan underscores her dedication to innovation.

Join Our Team as a Market Research Analyst
As UPCEA Research and Consulting continues to expand, we are actively seeking a talented Market Research Analyst to join our dynamic team. This role is instrumental in ensuring precise and efficient analysis for our products, deliverables, and publications. The Analyst will collaborate closely with the Senior Director of Research and Consulting, contributing to the growth and success of our organization.

Key Responsibilities Include:

  • Drafting questionnaires and data collection resources
  • Compiling and analyzing market data
  • Delivering insightful reports and presentations
  • Collaboratively identify industry trends and potential opportunities

View the full job description here.

If you possess expertise in Marketing Research, Statistics, or related fields and share our passion for shaping the future of higher education, we invite you to explore this exciting career opportunity with UPCEA. To learn more and apply, please send a CV and writing sample to [email protected].

Submission deadline is October 9, 2023.

Key Insights

  • Looking at SEO success metrics helps you evaluate your SEO strategy’s performance, while analyzing SEO health metrics lets you inform your SEO strategy.
  • Institutional leaders want reporting on SEO metrics, but most don’t receive regular updates.
  • From deans to marketing leaders to SEO analysts, various audiences need to receive and review different levels of data.
  • It’s important to leverage SEO metrics to champion the necessary resources for improving SEO results.

 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to driving new students to your higher education programs, particularly when targeting adult learners. Researching via search engines is a pivotal part of a potential student’s journey to discovering education options. And, it can even prompt them to consider education as the answer to their career growth needs.

Based on more than ten years of experience working with higher ed websites, we’ve found universities have an opportunity to improve their key programs’ search visibility by being more strategic with their SEO efforts.

We put our anecdotal experience to the test by partnering with UPCEA on a Higher Education SEO Research Study to understand members’ SEO perspectives, capabilities, and successes.

In this article, I dig into one key finding from the study: Institutional leadership often lacks SEO reporting. 62% of institutional leaders want reporting on SEO metrics, but just 31% receive regular updates.

Infographic: 62% of institutional leaders want reporting on SEO metrics, but just 31% receive regular updates.

This, and other data points in the study, highlight a self-perpetuating pattern:
Institutional leaders don’t hear regular reporting updates about marketing’s SEO efforts and outcomes. Therefore, they don’t push for or support SEO resources, meaning they don’t get SEO results.

To take it a step further, that final point then influences another piece of study data: 54% of institutional leaders indicate they aren’t satisfied with their PCO unit’s web strategy.

What higher education SEO metrics should you prioritize? Which metrics will have the greatest impact on your ability to drive enrollment? How can you use those metrics to advocate for more SEO resources?

Keep reading to learn:

  • The difference between SEO success metrics and SEO health metrics
  • Key SEO metrics for higher education marketing
  • Tools for tracking SEO metrics in higher education
  • Tips for setting goals and creating actionable strategies based on SEO metrics

 

Understanding the Role of SEO Success and Health Metrics in Higher Education Marketing

SEO success metrics vs. SEO health metrics

It’s helpful to distinguish between success and health metrics in order to use them strategically.

SEO success metrics are lagging indicators that tell you, after the fact, how well the SEO efforts you implemented are working. This could be how many people found your site via search engines or how visible you are in relevant searches on Google.

Look at SEO success metrics to evaluate your SEO strategy’s performance.

SEO health metrics are indicators of how well your site is set up to perform in search engines. They’re also gauges of what updates make your site more “SEO-friendly” and improve your rankings.

For example, health metrics tell you how easily Google can access and understand your site. Your rankings improve when you address the issues these metrics call out.

Look at SEO health metrics to inform your SEO strategy. These numbers help you understand updates you can make to improve your SEO results.

An infographic explaining the difference between SEO success metrics and SEO health metrics.

When you hone in on the right SEO metrics for higher education websites, you will:

  • Make more effective and impactful changes
  • Sharpen your focus on the outcomes that drive enrollment
  • Avoid distractions of having too many variables to review
  • Increase your confidence in your SEO strategy and results
  • Be ready and able to speak to your success or your need for more resources

When your higher education marketing team doesn’t have the most important SEO data, it means you likely won’t prioritize SEO improvements.

By integrating SEO metrics into your marketing dashboards/reporting cadence, you increase your chances of affecting the numbers. And, when marketing and institutional leadership are in tune with those numbers, you can have more productive conversations about SEO resources and skills.

The Higher Education SEO Research Study indicates that reporting shortfalls lead to a lack of resource allocation. This ultimately means that marketing departments won’t have success generating inquiries or fueling enrollment.

 

Key SEO Metrics for Higher Education Marketing Effectiveness

A primary takeaway of our study is that institutional leaders agree on the importance of regularly receiving SEO-related metrics to inform their strategy, but don’t regularly receive updates.

Different audiences need to receive and review different levels of data. For example:

Deans or directors should review very high-level SEO success metrics delivered by the marketing/SEO team. These should tell the overall picture of how SEO gets programs in front of new students and how it impacts inquiries/enrollment.

Recommended SEO metrics to show deans and directors:

  • Organic inquiries
  • Organic traffic
  • Specific wins for keyword rankings for key programs

Marketing leaders/the full team should review slightly more detailed SEO success metrics.

Recommended SEO metrics to show marketing leaders and the full team:

  • Organic inquiries
  • Organic traffic
  • Keyword rankings for key programs

SEO team/individuals should look at both SEO success and SEO health metrics.

 

Higher Education SEO Success Metrics

We recommend the following key performance indicators to evaluate the success of your university’s SEO plan:

Organic Inquiries

What are organic inquiries? Organic inquiries include the quantity of inquiries from visitors who entered your site through the non-paid results on a search engine.

What do organic inquiries tell you? Is your SEO and overall marketing strategy driving qualified visitors to your website? This metric also includes people who enter your site by searching for you by name (a.k.a. “branded searches”), which is why it’s also an indication of your overall marketing funnel’s success — not just SEO.

Organic Rankings (a.k.a. Search Engine Rankings)

What are organic rankings? Organic rankings are your position on Google’s search results for certain keywords. The keyword rankings you should care about most are ones related to your programs and degrees, as well as your rankings for branded, specific search terms (For example, searches for your school’s application deadline).

What do organic rankings tell you? Keyword rankings tell you if your SEO strategy is having an impact on your visibility. By looking at them at the keyword level, you can see which programs are performing better on search engines and which need more effort.

Organic Traffic

What is organic traffic? Organic traffic measures the number of visitors to your site who entered through non-paid results on search engines.

What does organic traffic tell you? Organic traffic tells you how well your SEO strategy is driving people to your site. Traffic is all about quantity, which is why we recommend looking at organic inquiries as well. This helps you tell if you are driving more qualified people to your site.

Pro-tip: If organic search traffic has increased, but inquiries have not, you either have a conversion issue or a traffic quality problem.

 

Referral Traffic

What is referral traffic? Referral traffic measures the number of people who click over to your site from another website (not a search engine), like a higher education ratings or search site like Niche.com.

Referral traffic is relevant to SEO because a robust SEO strategy includes listing your school on sites that already rank for keywords related to your programs (think: “Top X Degrees” lists).

What does referral traffic tell you? Referral traffic tells you if your investment in earning or paying for third-party site placement is worth the budget. Look at specific sites that refer traffic to your site to learn which placements you can expand (like listing additional programs or freshening and building out content).

An image of a higher education marketing team reviewing their SEO health metrics and SEO success metrics.

 

Higher Education SEO Health Metrics

SEO health metrics can direct your higher education marketing strategy. They help you diagnose challenges that Google and users may run into when they access your website.

When assessing the health of your higher education site, consider factors such as:

Technical site health

How well is your site set up from a technical SEO standpoint? Typically, the higher the score, the easier it is for Google to access and crawl your site.

 

Authority score

Do you have enough quality sites linking to you? This is a measure of Google’s trust in your site, which impacts your rankings. The authority score typically measures both the quality and quantity of your links.

 

Backlinks

How many links point back to your website? Usually, more backlinks mean a higher ranking on Google. Backlinks are also known as inbound links, or just “links.”

 

Percentage of unique title tags

Is each title tag on the site written to specifically describe the page’s topic, including unique keywords?

In our SEO research study, we looked at unique title tags as a means to gauge the overall content optimization of each university’s website, which usually go hand-in-hand.

 

Percentage of unique meta descriptions

Is each meta description (a short summary about the page) written to specifically describe the page’s topic, including unique keywords?

Just as with title tags, updated and unique meta descriptions can indicate the proper optimization of a given page.

 

Accessibility score

Is your site accessible to people with disabilities? Does your site enable screen readers to easily crawl and read your pages? Are there options to increase font size and contrast on your site to make it more readable for visitors?

 

Tools for Tracking SEO Metrics in Higher Education Marketing

There are many, many tools available for assessing the SEO success and health of your site. Some tools do both, and some do one better than the other.

Each tool typically boasts similar SEO health metrics that measure three top aspects like site health, backlinks, and website authority.

An image of a man using online tools to measure the SEO health and success of his higher education website.

 

Some of the most common tools for SEO metrics include:

  • Google Analytics
  • Google Search Console
  • Ahrefs
  • Semrush
  • BrightEdge
  • Advanced Web Ranking

 

Setting Goals and Creating Actionable Strategies Based on SEO Metrics

To create an actionable higher education search engine optimization strategy, you need to set a goal of where you want to go.

To begin goal setting:

  • Determine which overall success metric is most important to impact
  • Look at your SEO health metrics
  • Pick the lagging metric most relevant to that overall goal

That is your indication of where to start.

Create a specific list of what you will do, when, what impact you expect to see, and by when. We all know what SMART goals are, but marketers often don’t challenge themselves to set a SMART goal.

To best leverage SEO metrics, establish a regular cadence of review and discussion with questions like:

  • Who will look at which metrics, and how often?
  • Where and with whom will you review the metrics and — more importantly — the gained insights and next steps?

When looking at SEO success, you should give 6 months to see top-level impact (on traffic and inquiries, in particular). Give a single tactic 4–6 weeks to see a small impact. Some single tactics have a faster impact, depending on the circumstances.

If you need help creating an SEO strategy or understanding which SEO metrics have the most impact for your university, agencies like Search Influence, a higher education SEO company, can help. We are accustomed to working with large websites, multiple stakeholders, and complex and competing priorities. Our digital marketing agency can help drive efficient and effective SEO techniques for your university, particularly within the professional, continuing, and online education space.

Search is a critical part of the research and decision-making process.

Don’t overlook it as part of your higher education marketing funnel.

 

Additional insights on the UPCEA blog:

How to Quantify Higher Education SEO ROI

Paid Search & SEO in Higher Ed: Are Our Search Marketing Priorities Right?

 

Paula French has developed strategic digital marketing solutions for clients since 2009 when she joined Search Influence — then a 9-person team. Paula contributed to the company’s rapid growth by building and training effective account strategists. She has led strategy on digital marketing for the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery, Tulane University School of Professional Advancement, Audubon Nature Institute, and New Orleans Tourism. Today, Paula plays digital marketing matchmaker by identifying the right marketing solutions to match business goals to help companies in almost any industry optimize their potential, with an emphasis in education, healthcare, and tourism. Paula speaks about digital marketing in her hometown of New Orleans, as well as on the road, including past panels at MozCon Local in Seattle, Pubcon Las Vegas, and Engage in Portland.