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Latest Higher Education News
Faculty workforce cuts at a regional public university via buyouts
Western Michigan University launched an early retirement buyout program for certain tenured faculty to ease budget pressure. The plan allows eligible faculty aged 60 and older to apply starting in...
State policy shift forcing debate over expedited college degrees in Oklahoma
Oklahoma higher education leaders are examining whether bachelor’s degree programs statewide can be shortened through accelerated pathways. The review follows a February executive order from Gov....
UC faculty push to reinstate SAT/ACT for STEM readiness
More than 800 faculty members in the University of California system—including seven of nine math department chairs—urged UC leaders to reinstate SAT/ACT requirements for applicants to STEM...
New business-school surplus demands amid Harvard budget stress
Harvard University is asking its business school to raise surplus contributions to help cover a university budget gap, according to documents The Harvard Crimson obtained from internal...
AI cybersecurity and campus-scale risk: Instructure Canvas breach rescheduling exams
A Canvas learning platform incident has disrupted university assessments, with reports that thousands of student exams were rescheduled and grades delayed after an Instructure-linked hack. The...
Workforce diversity research: measured salary gains tied to racial diversity in cohorts
A new study in Nature links higher racial diversity in MBA and law school cohorts with higher starting salaries at graduation, and the findings extend to entire class outcomes rather than only...
AI agent governance and higher-ed operations risk
Higher education IT leaders are facing a new operational mandate as institutions move from AI pilots to real workflows that generate friction, automate processes, and increase exposure for...
State-funded research boost in California via new foundation
California’s state Senate approved SB 895, a bill that would create a new public entity—the California Foundation for Science and Health Research—to fund health and science research through a $12...
Federal higher-ed funding and accreditation oversight moves
The U.S. Department of Education has advanced major reforms that reshape how accreditation decisions are evaluated and how accreditors verify institutional performance. The AIM package would place...
NSF grant restrictions and federal funding disruption risk
The National Science Foundation has placed new limits on future awards for four highly selective universities after scrutiny and media inquiries. According to Nature, as of April 9 NSF put holds...
University finance strain and leadership-driven workforce actions
Western Michigan University announced an early retirement buyout program for certain tenured faculty to relieve budget pressure, contingent on enough faculty signing up to save at least $5...
Board-level governance shakeups in Virginia and across higher education
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger removed Virginia Tech Board of Visitors rector John Rocovich, citing alleged ethics violations under the board’s code of conduct and related statutes for...
Enrollment participation and attendance improvement research for student success
A new large-scale study released by the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research at Wayne State University finds there is no single “silver bullet” for improving student attendance, but...
U.S. K-12 enrollment and education data transparency changes
The U.S. Department of Education released a significantly pared-down annual education data compendium under the congressionally mandated Condition of Education report. The 2026 highlights cover...
Workforce credential financial aid expansion and institutional compliance timelines
New federal rules for Workforce Pell have set a short operational timeline for eligible institutions because the program takes effect July 1. The final rule requires institutions to offer a...
Faculty admissions and academic preparedness controversies at UC
More than 800 University of California math professors and department chairs urged UC system leaders to reinstate SAT/ACT requirements for applicants to STEM majors, citing widening gaps in...
Higher education research on attendance, effectiveness, and outcome measurement
A prominent academic framework for measuring school impact on student attendance underscores a wider question facing education systems: how to isolate effective strategies in the presence of...
AI funding boom scrutiny and implications for research and workforce readiness
Anthropic raised $65 billion in a new funding round, valuing the AI startup at $965 billion and making it the most valuable AI company in the world, while also announcing a new Claude Opus 4.8...
NSF grant holds on selective universities
The National Science Foundation lifted a hold on some grants for Harvard and other universities after media inquiries, extending an unusually direct federal pressure point on highly...
Workforce Pell expands access to short-term credentials
The Trump administration finalized Workforce Pell rules, opening federal Pell eligibility for short-term workforce credentials starting July 1, reshaping how colleges design and market accelerated...