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 MoreThe UPCEA Community: Advancing Online and Professional Education
The UPCEA community is a lot of things – innovative and collaborative, fearless and forward-looking. It’s a community of colleagues who share innovative solutions to vexing challenges. A community of entrepreneurs, working together to expand the frontiers of learning. It’s a community made up of all of us. This community is part of a great…
US Department of Education Announces Hearings on Higher Education Rulemaking; Secret Shopping of Institutions | Policy Matters (March 2023)
Major Updates Deadline March 30: Public Comment on Third Party Servicers – Institutional Members Encouraged to Weigh In The Department has updated Third-Party Servicer guidance to clarify when a servicer is considered as such, and would be privy to additional data and regulation with compliance for federal rules and regulations. The definitions have been…
Despite high interest, continuing education programs are sputtering (University Business)
Professional continuing education looked particularly enticing to colleges and universities in the wake of the pandemic and the staggering enrollment numbers that followed. With traditional enrollment taking a hit, higher education had to find new avenues to enroll learners, and these types of programs seemed to provide the flexibility that fits into almost every lifestyle….
Colleges want to expand continuing education but don’t devote resources, survey says (Higher Ed Dive)
Dive Brief: Continuing and online education programs offered by traditional brick-and-mortar colleges endure staffing issues, high administrative workloads and challenges accessing real-time student data. That’s according to an annual survey from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, and Modern Campus, a higher ed software provider. Among surveyed college employees, 71% said their institutions’ senior leaders supported…
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 MoreOnline programs are no longer a nice-to-have. They are essential, with many schools looking to online as their primary growth lever amid market headwinds. A strong portfolio of online programs can allow institutions to grow enrollment, reach new student populations, and future-proof their offerings. But building, launching, and sustaining a successful online program operation requires…
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…
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