UPCEA Blogs

See below for the full set of all blogs hosted by the association.

Learn more about UPCEA publications. If you want to be sure to get updates from us, be sure you're a UPCEA member.

The Pulse of Higher Ed

Perspectives on Online and Professional Education
from UPCEA’s Research and Consulting Experts

Don’t Bring a Brochure to a Robot Fight: Winning Page One and the AI Overview

November 7, 2025

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…

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Owning Your Awesomeness: Professional Growth Strategies from UPCEA 2025

November 3, 2025

Introduction 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…

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Online: Trending Now

Unique biweekly insights and news review from Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA

The New Cliff Facing Higher Ed and How AI Might Help Solve It

November 27, 2025

There 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…

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Transitioning to the Agentic University 2026–27

November 13, 2025

Most 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…

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UPCEA Updates

Your one-stop shop for the latest Association happenings, policy updates, plus thoughts from UPCEA Senior Leaders.

I waited until I was 30 to go to college. Best decision ever. (The Washington Post)

Technically, being a nontraditional student isn’t all that nontraditional. The National Center for Education Statistics has delineated seven characteristics of nontraditional students, including delayed enrollment, full-time employment and supporting a dependent; NCES posits that 75 percent of all students have at least one of these characteristics. In 2011, 40 percent of American college students were…

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ED Issues Proposed Rules on Borrower Defense to Repayment

The Department of Education has released proposed regulations on Borrower Defense to Repayment, a mechanism which would allow any student who believe they were defrauded at their school or the school violated state law, to file a claim with the Department of Education for discharging their loans. These proposed rules have come from the Department…

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A big partnership for higher ed data analytics (eCampus News)

Data management software company TMMData joins UPCEA in a Gold Level Industry Partnership to guide its members’ emerging data analytics and reporting efforts. TMMData, a provider of flexible data management software, recently announced its Gold Level Industry Partnership with UPCEA (the University Professional and Continuing Education Association). Through the collaboration, TMMData will pair its data…

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UPCEA and TMMData Partner to Bring Data Analytics and Reporting Best Practices to the Forefront of Higher Education

Media Contact:  Kim Francois 410-581-5928 [email protected] Leading data management software company joins UPCEA in a Gold Level Industry Partnership to guide its members’ emerging data analysis and reporting efforts  STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (May 16, 2016) — TMMData, a top provider of flexible data management software, today announced its Gold Level Industry Partnership with UPCEA (the…

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From the CEO

Musings on trends and updates from UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen.

Constructing the Future: Why Credential Innovation Needs Bold Leadership

November 21, 2025

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…

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Foreword by Bob Hansen Featured in The COLO Guidebook

July 10, 2025

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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Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

The AI Search Gap: What Students Expect vs. What Institutions Are Doing

December 1, 2025

Half 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…

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The Right Message at the Right Moment: How Smarter Enrollment Operations Boost Retention and Student Success

November 20, 2025

Student 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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