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

The Corner Office Comes With a View, Not a Vote: What the 2026 BOnES Report Reveals About Online Enterprises’ Seat at the Table

August 24, 2026

Picture the classic upward promotion. A bigger title, a nameplate on a new door, an invitation to the standing meeting that used to happen without you. But the levers you actually needed to run the thing, budget authority, decision rights, a team you can call your own, sometimes stay right where they were before the…

Tighter Budgets, Bigger Opportunity: How Intrapreneurship Positions Online and Professional Continuing Education Units to Lead

August 10, 2026

Higher education is facing significant financial pressure. Revenue is growing more slowly than costs across the sector. State funding is contracting. The demographic cliff has arrived. The institutions feeling this most acutely are being asked to do something that sounds simple but is not: spend less and generate more at the same time. For a…

Online: Trending Now

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

Focus on Quantum Future

August 20, 2026

We seem to be obsessed with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). Yet, our forward focus today more appropriately should be on the emergence, impact and potential of Quantum Computing. AI has had a remarkable impact on higher education, since the release of GPT 3.5 in November of 2022. For an inordinately…

From Knowledge Building to Wisdom Building in Higher Education

August 6, 2026

In years gone by, we said that students went to college to gather knowledge. Now, college is appropriately expected to be much more about building wisdom. The expectations of prospective students and families, employers and society at large have shifted. Knowledge and information have become instantaneously available at speeds approximating personal recall. The next step…

UPCEA Updates

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

UCLA’s Dean Of Continuing Education And Extension Smutz To Serve As UPCEA President-Elect

SAN DIEGO, CA – UPCEA, the Washington, D.C.-based association for university leaders in professional, continuing, and online education, welcomed Wayne Smutz as the association’s 2016-17 President-Elect during the 101st UPCEA Annual Conference. Smutz is Dean of Continuing Education and Extension at the University of California, Los Angeles. Smutz deeply believes that continuing and online education organizations…

Read More...

UPCEA Announces 2016 Association Award Recipients

13 Individuals and 5 Programs Receive Association’s Highest Honors WASHINGTON, DC – UPCEA, the leader in professional, continuing, and online education, has announced the recipients of the 2016 Association Awards. The UPCEA Association Awards program includes recognition of both individual and institutional achievement across the UPCEA membership. Since 1953, UPCEA has recognized its members’ outstanding…

Read More...

Dive Brief: Coalition advocates for ’21st century’ HEA rewrite (EducationDIVE)

The Online Learning Consortium, the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies have joined together to release a common set of guiding principles for Congress as it considers reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Read the full story.

Read More...

3 critical parts of HEA reauthorization (eCampusNews)

Fairness, innovation, and accountability are the three guiding principles Congress should use as it reviews the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in light of hte use of technology and online platforms for learning. The Online Learning Consortium (OLC), the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies…

Read More...

From the CEO

Musings on trends and updates from UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen.

The Future of Professional Learning Starts with Us

August 4, 2026

In 1915, UPCEA’s founders built this association on a simple idea: carrying knowledge to the people. That founding purpose never had an expiration date, and it does not have one now. It is why, more than a century later, the question in front of us was never whether professional learning needs to change. It is…

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…

Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

Start With the Workforce: What Malaysia Can Teach Us About Building for Growth

August 24, 2026

Why bringing workforce development into the conversation from the beginning can change the role universities play in economic growth. Imagine building a university because you’re building an industry. I recently spent time in Malaysia meeting with university and business leaders, and that idea stuck with me. We talk constantly about aligning higher education with workforce…

How AI Is Reshaping the Adult Learner Experience

June 24, 2026

Adult learners have become an increasingly important focus for higher education institutions. Today, adult learners are not an emerging population. They are the reality shaping the future of higher education. According to the Risepoint 2026 Voice of the Online Learner report, 89% of online learners work while pursuing their education, including 77% who work full…