Justice Department Threatens College Funding Over DEI Policies; Administration Requests Detailed Admissions Data | Policy Matters (August 2025)

Major Updates Justice Department Threatens College Funding Over DEI Policies; Administration Requests Detailed Admissions Data The U.S. Department of Justice has issued guidance warning that colleges and other federally funded institutions could lose federal support if they continue certain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. The DOJ’s new memo flags a sweeping range of campus…

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AI Can Facilitate Mastery Learning in Higher Education

Learning in contemporary higher education is rooted deeply in calendars and time rather than mastery of the topic of the learning. With an inflexible semester or quarter calendar and an often-inflexible schedule and length of meeting times, learners are marched through the system in the orderly method of an assembly line. As long as I…

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Congress Passes President Trump’s OBBB—Workforce Pell Included, but Higher Ed Gets $300 Billion Slash | Policy Matters (July 2025)

Major Updates Congress Passes President Trump’s OBBB—Workforce Pell Included, but Higher Ed Gets $300 Billion Slash President Trump’s newly signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) overhauls the federal approach to higher education policy. Short-term Pell advocates (of which UPCEA has been a long supporter) have something to be thankful for, as it opens Workforce…

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Teaching and Learning Critical and Creative Thinking

As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the emphasis in higher learning is less on in-depth discipline knowledge and more on agile skills in critical thinking and creative thinking. How can we more deeply integrate the development of these skills into our curricula? Of course, the need for these skills is based upon the continuing…

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Unlocking Opportunity: How Tax Policies Like Section 127 Can Drive Employer Partnerships

By Chelsea Miller, UpSkill America, and Amy Heitzman, UPCEA Partnership is a key driver to unlocking opportunity in America, which is why UPCEA and UpSkill America are so excited to come together to help academic institutions understand one particular priority for employers: leveraging tax policies to drive engagement (really!).  UpSkill America focuses on how employers…

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Foreword by Bob Hansen Featured in The COLO Guidebook

We are pleased to share the foreword by UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen from the newly released Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education. The guidebook, now available from Routledge in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats, provides a comprehensive framework for today’s online learning leaders. Learn more and purchase…

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Keep in Mind that AI is Multimodal Now

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a Pen Pal, or, perhaps, one should say, no longer just a “Keyboard Pal” experience. Remember those years ago in late 2022 when ChatGPT arrived on the international scene, you communicated with AI through a simple chatbot interface. It was remarkable that you could type in relatively short…

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International Student Visa Review Resumes, Social Media Vetting Instituted | Policy Matters (June 2025)

Major Updates Trump Administration Resumes Embassy Review on Student Visas, Implements Social Media Vetting Requirements The Trump Administration has lifted its pause on F‑, M‑, and J‑visa processing but simultaneously unleashed sweeping new social-media vetting requirements: all international student applicants must now make their Facebook, X, Instagram and other accounts public for consular review, with…

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Walking, Talking, Engaging AI in Higher Ed

We are most accustomed to writing prompts and challenging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to give us answers, insights, sources, videoclips, and creativity. Emerging now is the walking, talking AI that engages us on our level. We have front-row seats to the maturing of AI in higher education. There has been audio for a while, but now…

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