Professional, Continuing, and Online Education Update by UPCEA

USC and UCLA bet big on AI to meet soaring student, job market demands - Jaweed Kaleem, LA Times

2026-09-09T06:10:00.000-04:00

The Viterbi school of engineering at USC is offering a four-year program to prepare students for such fields as drug discovery, robotics and agriculturel UCLA, USC and other universities are launching new majors to train students either to build AI systems or to use them in the humanities. USC’s AI degree immerses students in model-building aimed at producing industry-ready graduates.The digital humanities department at UCLA uses AI tools to examine disciplines including history, languages and arts.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-27/usc-ucla-ai-majors-degrees-job-demand

How Accreditation Changes Could Impact Professional Licensure - Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed

2026-09-09T06:05:00.000-04:00

President Trump’s proposal to strip the American Bar Association’s accreditation arm of its gatekeeping powers for federal student aid has triggered a cascade of questions and concerns about whether future law school graduates in certain states will be able to obtain an attorney’s license. Legal and higher ed experts say it will come down to each state’s licensure rules and what, if anything, those rules say about whether practitioners are required to graduate from a law school accredited by a federally recognized agency. But at a time when accreditation is becoming increasingly politicized and volatile, the complex relationship between state licensure regulations and the Education Department’s recognition of accreditors is being tested, they say, creating a sense of uncertainty.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/accreditation/2026/08/31/how-accreditation-changes-could-impact-professional

Canada Hires 48 Scholars Away From Top U.S. Universities - Vjosa Isai, NY Times

2026-09-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

Twenty-one universities in Canada announced on Thursday the hiring of dozens of researchers to join their top academic ranks, poaching the majority of the recruits from the United States. Of the incoming 64 researchers, 48 will leave American campuses including Harvard, Yale and M.I.T., and the remainder are from Europe, Asia and Australia. Turmoil in American academia, precipitated by a crackdown on prestigious universities by the Trump administration and attacks on scientific research groups, has allowed Canada a rare opportunity to lure some of those schools’ top minds north. Their hiring is paid for through a Canadian government investment of more than 500 million Canadian dollars (about $364 million) in research fields that are strategically important, from global warming to artificial intelligence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/world/canada/canada-universities-hire-us-researchers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9lA.sxlQ.sQnC8s6qvBNp&smid=url-share

Faster Technology Cycles Mean Faster Retraining Cycles - Hugo Villar, Evolllution

2026-09-08T06:10:00.000-04:00

Ever-faster technological change is reshaping the labor market. The World Economic Forum reports that employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030, identifying technological change as the leading driver of that disruption. An analysis of U.S. job postings adds a sharper data point: The average job has seen 32% of its required skills change between 2021 and 2024, one in four jobs has seen 75% skill turnover, and the pace is accelerating, with the last three years being almost as disruptive as the previous fiveThe implication for higher education is that the interval between major retraining episodes is shrinking, as are the skills acquired. What used to look like periodic professional updating is becoming a pattern of recurring bursts of upskilling and reskilling. Artificial intelligence is the most visible driver, but it is only part of a broader wave that includes biotechnology, robotics, cybersecurity, digital platforms, advanced manufacturing, healthcare technologies and education itself.

https://evolllution.com/faster-technology-cycles-mean-faster-retraining-cycles

What employers are looking for in the age of AI — and four ways to provide it - Ben Deighton, Nature

2026-09-08T06:05:00.000-04:00

Recruiters repeatedly told Nature that, rather than specific technical skills, they’re mostly looking for candidates who are curious to learn more about AI and are able to demonstrate that on their CVs. “It’s the willingness to just roll up your sleeves and get into it, whether it’s informal training, whether it’s just spending some hours on open-source educational content,” explains Vijay Shah, dean of research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which had almost 30 open research positions in May. This is more important than specific skills, he says, because the field is moving so quickly. If you set a litmus test that requires people to be able to use AI tools such as OpenClaw or AlphaGenome, for instance, it will quickly be outdated, he adds.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01913-x

UC Irvine School of Education to lead $10 million national center on AI and postsecondary writing - UC Irvine

2026-09-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

UC Irvine’s School of Education will lead a national effort to examine how generative AI can strengthen college writing instruction without undermining students’ writing, critical thinking and communication skills.

The WRITE AI Center will develop and test evidence-based approaches to AI-supported writing, including PapyrusAI, a platform UC Irvine designed to provide personalized support while keeping instructors at the center of the learning process.

https://news.uci.edu/2026/08/27/uc-irvine-school-of-education-to-lead-10-million-national-center-on-ai-and-postsecondary-writing/

GPT-6 Astra - OpenAI

2026-09-07T06:10:00.000-04:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE - The version 6 of GPT, released yesterday, has re-ignited the debate over Artificial General Intelligence with some notable AI leaders claiming it has opened the AGI era. Linked below is the OpenAI announcement with some sample videos of the capability.)

GPT‑6 Astra brings together years of research and big bets across pre-training, reinforcement learning, and alignment. Astra is state-of-the-art on computer use, browsing, software engineering, cybersecurity, science, and professional work. Astra saturates FrontierMath Tier 4 with a 98% score, having already helped solve long-standing open problems⁠ in mathematics. Astra also saturates ARC-AGI-3 with a 99.9% score and ExploitBench with a 100% score. It also sets a new frontier on computer and browser use, handling the most demanding professional work with unmatched speed, accuracy, and judgment. GPT‑6 Astra is rolling out today to a limited set of organizations and over the coming days will become available to all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, as well as through the OpenAI API, Microsoft Azure, and AWS Bedrock.

https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-astra/

Education Department takes first step to strip ABA of accreditation authority - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive

2026-09-07T06:10:00.000-04:00

Agency staff recommended ending federal recognition for the American Bar Association’s accreditation arm, ramping up attacks on the organization. On Friday, U.S. Department of Education staff released a report recommending the agency deny federal recognition of the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which accredits law schools. Staff said the body did not meet more than two dozen criteria required for recognition. That report — as well as a separate, roughly 500-page report obtained by The Wall Street Journal last week — argues that the accrediting council is not independent enough from the ABA’s professional organization.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/education-department-takes-first-step-to-strip-aba-of-accreditation-authori/828656/

Online career training is growing – does it work? - Steven Yoder, the Hechinger Report

2026-09-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

Interest in career and technical education is booming now, as students seek ways to get a start on a well-paying career, and perhaps cut short or avoid paying for a pricey college degree. Stride and other for-profit education companies that already run traditional high schools online have taken note and expanded their career-oriented offerings in recent years. Yet delivering career training online to high schoolers can be challenging. For one thing, some students drawn to online options choose them because of anxiety or other issues that complicate in-person education. For another, it’s hard to arrange for hands-on, in-person training, which is often needed for some careers.

https://hechingerreport.org/online-career-training-is-growing-does-it-work/

Texas governor pushes for 3-year degree pathways - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive

2026-09-04T06:10:00.000-04:00

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday directed the state’s higher education board to develop recommendations for three-year pathways to bachelor’s degrees. Abbott instructed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to gather public college officials and faculty leaders, as well as employers and accreditors, into a working group to mull the issue and report back to his office by the year’s end. The governor directed the working group to make recommendations on academic standards, appropriate degrees and occupations, student demand, workforce needs and accreditation requirements for the accelerated degrees, as well as the legislative changes needed to allow them.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/texas-governor-pushes-for-3-year-degree-pathways/829003/

Schools are starting to teach AI literacy. For many, that means helping kids see chatbots’ flaws - JOCELYN GECKER and RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press

2026-09-04T06:05:00.000-04:00

AI literacy has become a buzzword of this back-to-school season as educators try to strike a balance between equipping students with the skills they need for an AI-driven future while preventing them from outsourcing their thinking to chatbots. There is no single definition of what AI literacy means, or how it should be taught. Tech giants like OpenAI, Google and Anthropic offer schools training sessions in how to use their AI tools. But for educators, there is a growing consensus that AI literacy is about more than learning how to use generative AI and write good prompts. “Good AI literacy,” said Rebecca Winthrop, director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, “includes knowing when not to use it.”

https://apnews.com/article/ai-literacy-schools-education-4fb9f2c0240993499870f4f204bf41c1

The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical. - Bill Gates, linkedIn Pulse

2026-09-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

We need a plan to ensure that the good outweighs the bad.

The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history.
Right now, we are not preparing adequately for that transition.
If the world takes the right steps, AI will be a force for good and leave everyone better off

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/turbulent-ai-era-here-choices-we-make-now-critical-bill-gates-kkmze/

Ghost students: Why one-time identity verification is not enough - Mouhamad Mbacke, University Business

2026-09-03T06:10:00.000-04:00

Since April 2026, every applicant completing the FAFSA has been screened for identity fraud. The Department of Education introduced the requirement after Federal Student Aid concluded that stolen and synthetic identities—also known as “ghost students”—had become a serious threat to federal aid programs. Ghost student fraud deserves every higher education security leader’s attention because it demonstrates how cyberattacks exploit identity. Universities typically verify an applicant during admission, create digital accounts, and then continue trusting that identity throughout the student’s academic career. Every downstream system, including financial aid, course registration, learning management systems, email, and collaboration platforms, inherits that initial trust decision.

https://universitybusiness.com/ghost-students-why-one-time-identity-verification-is-not-enough/

Lessons from AASCU: Why regional universities are built for online growth - Risepoint

2026-09-03T06:05:00.000-04:00

Regional public universities are navigating a period of profound change: demographic decline, growing competition from national online providers, and increasing pressure to demonstrate the value of a degree. Those challenges formed the backdrop for a conversation at this year’s American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Summer Meeting, where Dr. Shelly Blunt, Provost at the University of Southern Indiana (USI), and Susan Dukes, President of University Partnerships at Risepoint, shared lessons from USI’s online graduate growth and discussed what regional universities can learn from the institution’s experience. The central message from the session was surprisingly simple: Regional universities already have what working adults are looking for.

https://risepoint.com/insights/lessons-from-aascu-why-regional-universities-are-built-for-online-growth/

How New Visa Limits Are Already Affecting Colleges - Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed

2026-09-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

International applicants dropped by over 25 percent at Illinois’s flagship university and several dozen international students withdrew from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, just weeks before the start of the semester. Those are just two of the ways colleges said, in court filings, that new limits on how long international students can stay in the U.S. are already having an effect, even before the rule officially kicks in next month. Under the rule, international students can stay for only four years before seeking an extension. Previously, they could remain in the country until their studies were completed.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/international-students-us/2026/08/24/international-student-rule-already-spurring

Now Is the Time to Plan and Prepare Your Students and Colleagues on Workplace AI - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

2026-09-02T06:10:00.000-04:00

If ever there was a most important era in which we must emphasize discourse with our students, it is today. We are in the midst of major changes in our culture and society as a whole. How, then, do we prepare our learners to enter a job market where the primary tools are making huge advances two or three times within the span of a single semester? First, we, ourselves, must become AI fluent. Through professional development either at our own institution or online via short courses, we need to master the foundations. Then, we must build regular update readings into our weekly schedules. There are scores of high-quality blogs, podcasts and YouTube series designed to keep readers and viewers up to speed. For example, I publish a free and open daily reading list on “AI in Higher Education by UPCEA.” There are several steps in the process that we should consider applying across our curricula to ensure our graduates and certificate holders are best prepared for job interviews and ensuing careers in the rapidly changing workplace.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/online-trending-now/2026/09/02/time-plan-and-prepare-students-and-colleagues-ai

Higher education systems are quickly moving toward financial peril - Alcino Donadel, University Business

2026-09-02T06:05:00.000-04:00

Concerns are increasing about the number of university and college systems in financial distress or drifting toward it—and many may be beyond repair without outside help, according to the latest analysis by education tech company Ellucian. Three familiar boogeymen—shrinking pools of students, rising operating costs and workforce disruptions—are worsening the financial outlook for the nation’s higher education networks. The organizations studied in this report oversee nearly 1,200 institutions serving 15 million students. The “condition of these systems is the condition of the sector,” writes Dan Greenstein, report author and former chancellor of Pennsylvania’s state higher education system. Thirty-nine out of 91 college and university systems are experiencing some form of distress, and more than a third face “acute risk” as enrollment declines and financial challenges worsen, the report found.

https://universitybusiness.com/higher-education-systems-are-quickly-moving-toward-financial-peril/

DHS to propose end of 60-day grace period for H-1B visa holders - Kathryn Moody, Higher Ed Dive

2026-09-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will soon propose a rule to eliminate the 60-day grace period that H-1B and similar nonimmigrant visa holders receive if their employment ends before the expiration date of their visas.The rule was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget on Aug. 6, but it has yet to be published in the Federal Register, with no indication from White House officials when it will be approved for publication. If the current 60-day grace period is eliminated, H-1B visa holders who lose their jobs may be required to leave the country immediately “and would likely be unable to change status or change employers unless [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] authorizes the change through an exercise of favorable discretion,” per a post from law firm Ogletree

https://www.highereddive.com/news/dhs-to-propose-end-of-60-day-grace-period-for-h-1b-visa-holders/828045/

Tenure-Track Ranks Grew Last Year, Survey Finds - Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed

2026-09-01T06:10:00.000-04:00

The number of faculty—including those on the tenure track—is on the rise, new data from College and University Professional Association for Human Resources shows. According to a survey of more than 900 colleges and universities about their worker head counts published this week, the number of tenure-track faculty increased 7 percent between the 2024–25 and 2025–26 academic years—marking the highest single-year increase since 2016. By contrast, tenure-track ranks only grew 1 percent between the 2023–24 and 2024–25 academic years.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/21/tenure-track-ranks-grew-last-year-survey-finds

Colleges made deep staff cuts while adding tenure-track faculty last year - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive

2026-09-01T06:05:00.000-04:00

Full-time staff at colleges dropped 6.6% in 2025 compared to the year before, ending several years of growth, according to data released Wednesday by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. The decline was even sharper among part-time staff, whose ranks plunged by 23.9% last year, CUPA-HR’s latest survey data showed. However, faculty numbers grew overall during the year. Tenure-track faculty headcounts saw the largest spike at 7% year over year, the biggest increase for that group since at least 2016.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/colleges-made-deep-staff-cuts-while-adding-tenure-track-faculty-last-year/828447/

Report: Benchmarking Online Ed - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed

2026-09-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

Last year, the online and professional education association UPCEA urged institutions to close the gap between student expectations on institutional preparedness for online learning as part of its annual report on the Benchmarking Online Enterprises Survey. This year’s report, released Monday, warns that the story beneath the 2026 data isn’t one of a “rising tide lifting every online enterprise equally, but rather a sector beginning to sort itself into those pulling ahead and those bracing for contraction.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/18/report-benchmarking-online-ed

Bankrupt Anna Maria College to sell nursing program for $1.1M - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive

2026-08-31T06:10:00.000-04:00

After closing abruptly this year, the Catholic institution is trying to pay off millions of dollars in debt. Anna Maria College, in Massachusetts, plans to sell its nursing program for $1.1 million to nearby Assumption University next month, according to court documents filed Monday. Anna Maria closed this year following its spring term due to financial duress and filed for bankruptcy in late June to pay off its debts and liquidate its assets. Anna Maria requested court permission to sell the nursing program assets to Assumption via a private, noncompetitive sale on Sept. 30. The college is also looking to sell its real estate while in bankruptcy, which it hopes will cover its $17.7 million in secured debt.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/bankrupt-anna-maria-college-to-sell-nursing-program-for-11m/828329/

With New AI Requirements and Courses, Colleges Eye AI Fluency - Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed

2026-08-31T06:05:00.000-04:00

Their approaches may differ but their motivations are the same: Employers are, at breakneck speed, increasingly asking for graduates who know how to effectively use AI. It’s called AI fluency, said Ray Schroeder, a senior fellow at the online and professional education association UPCEA, and it “can be a decisive factor between getting a job and not, especially at entry level,” he said. “Corporate HR departments who do the hiring are requiring or evaluating how much experience and ability applicants have in [AI], and it’s very important to those corporations because AI is becoming very important in their day-to-day operations,” he added. As of March, more than a third—35 percent—of entry-level jobs require AI skills, up from 13 percent six months prior, according to the most recent job outlook survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/teaching/2026/08/20/ai-requirements-and-courses-colleges-eye-ai-fluency

Organizational AI Adoption Jumps Six Points - Andy Kemp, Gallup

2026-08-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Reported organizational adoption of AI grew sharply in Q2 2026. Forty-seven percent of U.S. employees now say their organization has integrated AI tools to improve productivity, efficiency or quality, up from 41% in the last quarter. One in five employees remain unsure as to whether their organization has integrated AI tools, unchanged from prior quarters. AI users most often use AI for writing, research and problem-solving. Meanwhile, coding and automation users report the largest productivity gains.

https://www.gallup.com/workplace/712736/organizational-adoption-jumps-six-points.aspx

Worker Anxiety Over AI Is Growing, and Employers Aren't Preparing Employees for What's Next, New Survey Finds - JFF.org

2026-08-28T06:10:00.000-04:00

In a marked shift from a year ago, workers are now more likely to say AI is a net-negative than a net-positive when it comes to finding jobs, building wealth, and securing their quality of life, according to a new national survey released today by national nonprofit Jobs for the Future (JFF). The survey, conducted by AudienceNet in late 2025, also found that early-career workers are more likely to feel AI’s impact on their jobs compared to those with more experience. In addition, just over one-third of workers say employers are providing the training, guidance, or opportunities they need to use AI in their jobs, a drop of almost 10 percentage points. The new research builds on a 2024 JFF survey, which found that a plurality of workers—defined as anyone employed—said AI did more good than harm across society. In the new survey, the sentiment flipped; more workers now say AI does more harm than good. Optimism about AI’s impact on workers also fell by 10 percentage points. In the 2024 survey, nearly half of respondents felt somewhat or very optimistic about the impact of AI on workers. In the new survey, only about one-third of workers (39%) say they feel optimistic.

https://www.jff.org/newsroom/press-releases/worker-anxiety-over-ai-is-growing-and-employers-arent-preparing-employees-for-whats-next-new-survey-finds/