Industry Insights

Valuable insights from UPCEA's trusted corporate partners.

Workforce Pell Is Now Law Under the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB)

October 6, 2025

Is your institution ready to deliver, comply, and compete? This update is intended to highlight key portions of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) that affect colleges and universities. The goal is not to offer opinion, but to bring clarity around the law’s implications—especially the arrival of Workforce Pell. The OBBB is a broad, multi-issue…

Cybersecurity as a Strategic Priority for Universities

September 22, 2025

Protecting students, data, and credentials starts at the top, because hacks don’t take holidays. Cybersecurity Is Now a Leadership Issue Universities aren’t just academic institutions anymore. They’re digital enterprises. Student data, research, and online platforms are valuable targets, and attackers know it. That’s why cybersecurity has moved out of the IT basement and into the…

Building Better Learners, Educators, and Outcomes with Scenario-Based Learning

August 25, 2025

Since the 1980s, higher education has steadily shifted from passive lectures to more active, student-centered learning. As Bonwell and Eison noted in Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom, this shift not only reinforces content mastery but also fosters critical thinking and problem-solving. Cynthia J. Brame, writing for Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, defines active learning…

Building the Cyber Workforce the Future Can’t Live Without

August 11, 2025

Turn learners into the cyber pros every employer is chasing with stackable, multi-credential pathways The Cyber Talent Gap Is a Moving Target Picture this: the bad guys keep upgrading their playbook, but the good guys are still running last season’s plays. That’s the cyber talent gap in a nutshell. It’s not just about more people…

Understanding the Evolving Needs of Online Learners

August 4, 2025

Every year, the Voice of the Online Learner report offers a window into the motivations, preferences, and challenges of today’s online students. Now in its 14th year, the 2025 edition provides timely insights for UPCEA members seeking to design courses and programs that meet the needs of adult learners, employers, and communities. At Risepoint, we’re…

Other Blogs and News:

How Institutions Build Strong Noncredit and Professional Education Portfolios

Noncredit and professional education has moved from the margins of the institution to the center of enrollment and workforce strategy. As traditional pipelines tighten and adult learners look for faster, skills-focused options, colleges and universities are rethinking what they offer beyond the degree. Yet a scattered collection of one-off courses often do not deliver lasting…

When Leadership Leaves a Mark: Moving Forward After a Difficult Institutional Experience

Leadership is not defined only by the circumstances we encounter, but also by how we learn from them and determine what comes next.  Higher education leaders often accept positions because they believe in an institution’s mission and see opportunities to make a meaningful difference. They bring experience, professional judgment, and a commitment to supporting students,…

UPCEA Announces Indiana State University as 2026 Jim Fong Grant Recipient

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 10, 2026 — UPCEA is pleased to announce that the 2026 Jim Fong Grant for Advancing Online and Professional Education has been awarded to Indiana State University. Indiana State’s project will use a landscape survey and regional data analysis to find where the university is best positioned to build stackable, non-credit-to-credit credential…

COLO Compass | Who Leads Next? Building the Pipeline of Online Leaders

COLO Compass: Evidence and practical direction for chief online learning officers. Throughout National Distance Learning Week, I’ve written about how much online learning leaders are now expected to handle: AI governance, the financial case for online education, relationships with policymakers, financial aid fraud, and operations that extend well beyond their own units. The question for…

COLO Compass | The COLO’s Job Got Bigger. Has the Authority Kept Up?

COLO Compass: Evidence and practical direction for chief online learning officers. When UPCEA published its 2016 Hallmarks, online education was still moving from innovation to mainstream adoption, and a central challenge was legitimizing it. The 2026 Hallmarks of Excellence in Digital Learning Enterprises begin from a different premise. As Vickie Cook, a contributing editor of…

COLO Compass | Sustaining Online Learning Takes Evidence Inside and Out

COLO Compass: Evidence and practical direction for chief online learning officers. National Distance Learning Week runs November 2 through 6, and one of USDLA’s themes this year is the “Sustainable Future of Distance Education.” For those responsible for online enterprises, sustainability means having the financial resources, operational capacity, and institutional support to continue serving learners. …