Amid growing demand for flexible and career-oriented education, online and Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) units are at the forefront of institutional innovation and revenue sustainability. Whether through degree programs, microcredentials, corporate training, or other non-credit offerings, these units play a critical role in expanding access to education and meeting the evolving needs of learners…
Read MoreIn January 2025, the president issued an executive order freezing federal loans and grants, including Pell Grants and other student loans. While the order has since been rescinded, the damage was done. Moving forward, potential students will be wary about the frailty of college loans. There will be uncertainty as to whether college is affordable…
Read MoreWe have entered an era of greater scrutiny and fewer resources in higher education. How might AI enable the deans to become more effective and efficient in administering the college? The challenges are proliferating while funding is deteriorating. Fortunately, the AI options to accomplish more with less funding are expanding. As of the end of…
Read MoreI had the pleasure recently to participate in a lifelong learning session with a group of mostly current or retired educators at my nearby Lincoln Land Community College. The topic was AI in education. It became clear to me that many in our field are challenged to keep up with the rapidly emerging developments in…
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What I Wish I Knew at the Time: Negotiating Agreements
In the summer of 2021, UPCEA surveyed Institutional Representatives (IRs) and Chief Online Learning Officers (COLOs) in order to understand the issues senior leaders were wrestling with at their institutions. One of the topics found in survey responses had to do with working with service providers and vendors. The Council for Chief Online Learning Officers…
Why Do Students Leave College Before Finishing? New Study Looks at Common Scenarios. (EdSurge)
When a student stops out of college before getting a degree, the college should act fast if it wants to get them back. That’s because there’s a correlation between how long a student has been disengaged and the likelihood that they’ll return. “As soon as a student drops out or stops out or disengages, the…
42% of stopped-out young adults cited financial reasons for leaving college, survey finds (Higher Ed Dive)
[…] For college administrators, reenrolling students starts with acknowledging that students are stopping out in the first place, said Jim Fong, founding director of UPCEA’s Center for Research and Strategy. “Colleges often don’t want to admit how many students leave school before graduating,” Fong said. “Institutions don’t want to tell the community, ‘Oh, we lost…
2021 UPCEA MEMS Award Recipients Announced
11 Recipients Chosen For Three Award Categories WASHINGTON, D.C., December 2, 2021 — UPCEA, the leader in professional, continuing, and online education, has announced the recipients of the 2021 Crisis Management Marketing Award, 2021 Excellence in Enrollment Management Award, and the new Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness in Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Success Award. …
Over the last three years, UPCEA engaged in an innovative partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to enable the latter’s Distance Teaching and Learning (DT&L) conference to continue under UPCEA’s leadership. The partnership’s goals included making this valuable event for the distance learning community more sustainable and accessible to online practitioners focused on teaching and…
Read MoreA Movement, Not Just a Community Convergence is emerging as the place where the credential innovation community for higher ed comes together. But more than a community, it’s a movement. Not a movement to make degrees less valuable, let alone obsolete. Rather, it’s a movement to complement degrees by meeting the needs of those for…
Read MoreHigher education institutions are navigating a rapidly evolving search landscape. With so many prospective students turning to search engines to explore programs and make enrollment decisions, universities must ensure their SEO strategies keep pace with these changes. Without a clear SEO strategy, institutions risk losing visibility. According to the Higher Ed SEO Research Study developed…
Read MoreSystems are the processes, people, and technology that make your university run on a day-to-day basis. There are a thousand of them that make up your infrastructure, from recruiting and enrollment to learning design and continuing education. It’s these systems that dictate the experiences your students, staff, and faculty have within your university. As such,…
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