UPCEA Updates

Your one-stop shop for the latest Association happenings, plus thoughts from the desk of CEO Bob Hansen.

What Does the Blockchain Mean for University Partnerships? (Helix Education)

By UPCEA | November 8, 2020

COVID has accelerated the evolution and adoption of a lot of new technologies across higher ed. What has the pandemic done to the blockchain movement specifically?  Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor of online learning at University of Illinois Springfield, and senior fellow at UPCEA, returns to the Enrollment Growth University show to remark on the acceleration…

UPCEA Announces Online Leadership Roundtable Advisory Council Changes

By UPCEA | October 22, 2020

WASHINGTON, October 22, 2020 — UPCEA, the Washington, D.C.-based association for college and university leaders in professional, continuing, and online education, announced changes this month to its Online Leadership Roundtable Advisory Council.   The Online Leadership Roundtable (OLR) is the body for senior leaders charged with driving online strategy at the unit or campus level.…

People & Programs: New Online Graduate Certificate Programs Create ‘Stackable’ Pathway to University of Texas at Austin Master’s Degree

By UPCEA | October 16, 2020

The Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has launched a new program allowing learners to pursue career-focused course bundles that can be applied as academic credit toward a graduate degree. Starting with two 100% online graduate certificates — a Mechanical Engineering Controls Certificate and a Petroleum Engineering Data Analytics Certificate —…

Evolving the College Model to Meet Demands

By UPCEA | October 8, 2020

By SmartBrief Editors This post is produced in partnership with UPCEA. As the Associate Vice Provost for Professional and Continuing Studies at the University of Delaware (UD), Dr. George Irvine has spent the last six months transitioning his division’s programs from in-person to wholly online due to the pandemic. He chaired a university-wide committee to…

UPCEA Supports New Community College Workforce Education Study

By UPCEA | October 6, 2020

UPCEA is excited to be supporting a new study of community college workforce education, funded by Lumina Foundation and spearheaded by Opportunity America. Opportunity America and Lumina Foundation are partnering with Wilder Research to conduct this national study.   What. The study aims to answer the following questions: How extensive is the workforce education offered…

New to Teaching Online? Avoid Reinventing the Wheel: Interview Results From Experienced Online Instructors

By UPCEA | October 1, 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote education has become increasingly relevant for large numbers of instructors, students, and higher education professionals. Many have found remote teaching to be daunting, and have wondered how to provide equivalent learning opportunities to students without the face-to-face contact, as well as resources, offered in classroom settings. However, professionals in online…

Supporting Faculty and Staff in the Development of High Quality Online Experiences: Crowdsourced Resources for the 2020-2021 Academic Year

By UPCEA | September 28, 2020

Earlier this summer, at the suggestion of Aaron Brower and Ryan Anderson of the University of Wisconsin Extended Campus, UPCEA led the crowdsourcing of resources to support higher quality remote teaching for the 2020-2021 academic year. The project was bold, audacious, and one that proved to be challenging for a host of reasons, mainly due…

College Faculty and Administrators Feel Prepared to Teach Online This Fall and Are Optimistic about the Future of Higher Education, According to New Survey

By UPCEA | September 22, 2020

The Second Digital Learning Pulse Survey, Conducted by Bay View Analytics on Behalf of OLC, WCET, UPCEA, CDLRA and Cengage, Looks at the Needs of Higher Education Institutions in the Wake of COVID-19 September 22, 2020 — U.S. higher education faculty and administrators agree that they are prepared to teach online this fall, and while…

Other Blogs and News:

UPCEA’s 2025 Online Education Benchmarking Report Provides Vital Data for University Leaders

Second annual study provides new KPI benchmarks around enrollments, finance, and budget, explores the impact of AI, and provides strategic recommendations for online leaders to thrive in these uncertain times.  WASHINGTON, D.C., ISSUED AUGUST 12, 2025…UPCEA, the online and professional education association, today announced the release of a new research report, “Benchmarking Online Enterprises: Insights…

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How to Build Strong Employer Partnerships to Support Student Success

Now, possibly more than ever, it is critically important for colleges and universities to engage with employers for the benefit of our students. Higher education is facing an unprecedented time. The demographic cliff is upon us, the current political environment has led to policy whiplash and has upended funding sources for research. Our campuses have…

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Artificial Intelligence is Non-Negotiable for Higher Education Marketing and Enrollment Management

Why Institutional Leaders Can No Longer Afford to Wait on AI adoption The clock is ticking for higher education institutions that haven’t fully embraced AI. What was once an experimental advantage in marketing and enrollment has quickly become an urgent necessity. AI has firmly established itself as an operational imperative across diverse industries, with the…

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Congress Passes President Trump’s OBBB—Workforce Pell Included, but Higher Ed Gets $300 Billion Slash | Policy Matters (July 2025)

Major Updates Congress Passes President Trump’s OBBB—Workforce Pell Included, but Higher Ed Gets $300 Billion Slash President Trump’s newly signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) overhauls the federal approach to higher education policy. Short-term Pell advocates (of which UPCEA has been a long supporter) have something to be thankful for, as it opens Workforce…

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Synchronizing Pathways: Advancing the National Dialogue on Credentials and Learning Mobility

Incubator grant supports critical work to align data practices and learning mobility frameworks to benefit today’s learners WASHINGTON July 31, 2025 – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has launched a national initiative to advance credential transparency and learner mobility through improved data quality and institutional capacity-building. The project titled, “Synchronizing Pathways: Expanding Institutional…

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Accelerating Institutional Capacity for Employer Engagement in Credential Innovation

As the future of work rapidly evolves, higher education institutions must accelerate their capacity to engage with employers—building bridges between learning and labor market relevance. At UPCEA, with support from Walmart, the world’s largest employer, we’ve undertaken two major initiatives to strengthen these bridges. The first project provided foundational benchmarking data, a practical playbook, and…

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