Imagine your bellwether program stepping into a modern search arena with a glossy tri-fold and a storied reputation, ready to battle any challenger. Across the ring rolls a robotic rival as “The Imperial March” blares over the speakers. The ref signals start; a blinding spotlight from the robot makes your program vanish from view. The…
Read MoreIntroduction At the 2025 UPCEA Annual Conference, the session “Owning Your Awesomeness” reminded us that professional growth isn’t just about mastering skills—it’s about recognizing and amplifying the unique strengths we already have. For leaders and practitioners in professional and online education this means embracing both the outward image we present and the inner narratives that…
Read MoreThere is a new “cliff” in American higher education, and it is not the demographic cliff. Rather, it is the dramatic cliff in math knowledge, skills, and abilities. Let me be clear that other discipline deficiencies are found in this new generation of college students, however they are dwarfed by those in math. These have…
Read MoreMost of us in higher education are now familiar with generative AI bots, where you formulate a prompt and get a reply. Yet, we are now beginning the advancement to agentic AI, the autonomous 24-7 project manager. The dramatic enhancement in the capability of AI as it moves from bots to agents will bring about…
Read MoreUPCEA’s National Council for Online Education Announces Four New Advisory Board Members
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2018 – UPCEA, the Washington, D.C.-based association for university leaders in professional, continuing, and online education, welcomed four new members to serve on the National Council for Online Education Advisory Board at the 2018 Summit for Online Leadership and Administration. “These exceptional leaders all have deep and varied expertise in the world…
Webinar (July 11): Designing Extended Education Programs and Marketing to Meet the Needs of the Corporate Market
Jointly hosted by the Community and Economic Engagement & Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Services Networks Programming and marketing for the corporate market need to be done differently than for open enrollment programs. This webinar will examine successful examples from the UC Irvine corporate programming and outreach and a survey of best practices derived from MindMax’s…
We’re putting your feedback to use
Recently, we conducted a member needs assessment to ask members how we can improve the value we offer to all those in the UPCEA community. A special thanks to all of you who took the time to share your thoughts with us. We’ve carefully reviewed your feedback, and I’m pleased to share what we’re doing…
Innovation to Drive International Enrollment Success in the Third Wave
In my recent paper, A Third Wave of International Student Mobility, published by Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley, I analyzed the landscape of international enrollment from the lens of three Waves defined by key events shaping student choices and provided an overview of data-driven enrollment trends by institutional types. First and second…
The tagline for Convergence, Credential Innovation in Higher Education, raises two important questions: First, what kind of credentials are we talking about? Is the scope of credentials unlimited, blue sky, or confined to incremental changes on the margins of the status quo? And second, who is leading that innovation, and what do they need to…
Read MoreWe 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…
Read MoreHalf of prospective students use AI tools every week. Yet, only about a third of higher education institutions have a formal strategy for AI search. That gap isn’t just a metric. It’s a brand visibility crisis. Students are using ChatGPT and Perplexity to research programs, compare universities, and narrow their lists, often before they ever…
Read MoreStudent success starts with the right conversation. By uniting data, technology, and human connection, institutions can shift from reactive outreach to proactive engagement that strengthens trust, equity, and long-term retention. Every Student Is a Story, Not a Segment “On the other side of every data point, every phone number, every email address, there’s a person…
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