UPCEA Updates

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

Stopped-out students are confident in their academic skills — but financial concerns remain (Higher Ed Dive)

By UPCEA | October 16, 2024

“Facing the rapidly approaching demographic cliff — an expected dropoff in high school graduates starting around 2025 — many colleges are pivoting to reengaging students who attended college but left before earning a credential. Officials see significant enrollment potential among this group, as the nationwide pool of stopped-out students is large and growing. By July 2022,…

New Study Reveals Keys to Re-Engaging the 41.9 Million Americans with Some College, but No Credential

By UPCEA | October 15, 2024

Students’ Perception of the Value of a Degree Drops 50% After Stopping Out WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 15, 2024) — StraighterLine, the leading provider of flexible, affordable post-secondary online courses and industry credentials, and UPCEA (the online and professional education association) released findings from a new study examining the motivations, challenges, and readiness of individuals with…

Collaborating for the Future: Employer Partnerships and Credential Innovation

By UPCEA | October 1, 2024

UPCEA members are often the advocates and aggregators for credential innovation on their campuses, as those flexible learning opportunities are often noncredit or certificate-centric, and usually online, avenues pioneered by our online and professional community. To help institutions better advocate for the resources needed for a successful, holistic micro-credentialing strategy, UPCEA engaged in a grant-funded…

2024 UPCEA MEMS Award Recipients Announced

By UPCEA | September 27, 2024

40 Recipients Chosen For Three Award Categories WASHINGTON, D.C., September 27, 2024 — UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has announced the recipients of the 2024 Excellence in Enrollment Management Award, the Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness in Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Success Award, and the Excellence in Marketing Award.  All three awards…

How higher-ed is accelerating the growth of credential innovation (eCampus News)

By UPCEA | August 29, 2024

“A new higher-ed playbook aims to accelerate the development and delivery of non-credit, short-term credentials that are effectively directed at the workplace. Building Capacity, Expanding Pathways: Accelerating the Growth of Credential Innovation in Higher Education, from online and professional education association UPCEA and supported by a grant from Walmart, features lessons learned and promising practices…

These 10 schools found their footing creating quality alternative credentials (University Business)

By UPCEA | August 29, 2024

Senior leadership is beginning to view alternative credentials as a fundamental aspect of their enrollment strategy—and accreditors are listening. But costs, opaque data and unfruitful corporate outreach efforts have prevented colleges and universities from implementing the programs at scale, to name a few barriers. Institutions looking to solidify their non-degree micro-credential and digital badge strategy can model solutions from…

The Job – Open Tabs: Noncredit Microcredentials (Work Shift)

By UPCEA | August 22, 2024

“While colleges are increasingly interested in alternative credentials, higher education lacks consistent processes for developing and pricing noncredit, short-term credentials, according to UPCEA. The group’s new playbook for accelerating growth in the space includes case studies on the development of noncredit microcredentials by 10 universities, which represent a wide range of sizes, geographies, and institution types.” Read more.

UPCEA Announces 2024 Diversity in Leadership Scholars

By UPCEA | August 16, 2024

UPCEA is pleased to announce the 2024 cohort of Bethaida “Bea” González Diversity in Leadership Scholars.  Representative and diverse leadership is a cornerstone of UPCEA’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusive Excellence. The goal of the Diversity Scholars program is to equip diverse professionals at any stage of their career with the skills and knowledge needed…

Other Blogs and News:

AI Readiness and Its Relationship to Enrollment Management in Continuing Education

Enrollment management plays a pivotal role in the success of any online and professional continuing education units through impact on revenue generation, learner engagement, and program sustainability. AI-driven business process automation (BPA) offers transformative solutions to streamline enrollment workflows, enhance recruitment strategies, and improve the overall student experience through allowing staff to focus on human…

Read More

Proposed Distance Education Rules Are Now Likely To Be Finalized Before the End of the Current Presidential Term | Policy Matters (December 2024)

Proposed Distance Education Rules Are Now Likely To Be Finalized Before the End of the Current Presidential Term On December 30, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) shared the final, unofficial version of its new program integrity and distance education regulations, which call for the collection of new but yet-to-be-established distance education and correspondence course enrollment data…

Read More

Reflections from Convergence 2024: Credential Innovation in Higher Education, hosted by UPCEA and AACRAO

The running joke was that this fall’s Convergence, UPCEA’s second collaboration with thoughtful partner AACRAO, was referred to as Convergence Two: Electric Boogaloo, for the verve and excitement around bringing together another sold-out/SRO gathering of credential innovators–in the buzzy city of New Orleans, no less. And though I am fairly certain that pop-y, choreographed dancing…

Read More

Degrees on Hold: Bringing “Some College, No Credential” Learners Back

Higher education is facing a real challenge—and yes, I said challenge. (Because let’s face it, we really do love a good “opportunity” in higher ed, don’t we?) With over 41 million people in the U.S. who’ve started college and left without a degree, there exists a massive group of learners who are unfinished, yet far…

Read More

According To the New UPCEA and Collegis Report, 71% of Prospective Graduate Students Prefer Fully Online Programs

Findings highlight the need for strategic outreach to address master’s degree enrollment challenges in a competitive market [Washington and Illinois] – December 16, 2024 –  A new report released today by UPCEA, the online and professional education association, and Collegis Education, a higher education solutions tech-enabler, highlights the growing interest in online master’s degree programs…

Read More

Building the Future of Credentials: Explore the LER Accelerator Inventory

By the LER Accelerator coalition We are excited to share the official launch of the LER Accelerator Inventory, a comprehensive collection of resources designed to support institutions in adopting and implementing Learning and Employment Records (LERs). As members of the LER Accelerator coalition, we are proud to contribute to this valuable initiative to create a more transparent, interoperable, and…

Read More