Get the Daily Brief
Latest Higher Education News
Colleges scramble as SNAP payments halve: campus aid stretched
After court orders forced the administration to use emergency reserves, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced partial November SNAP payments — roughly half of normal benefits — leaving...
Scott gifts to HBCUs — major unrestricted donations reshape budgets
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has made two large unrestricted gifts to historically Black colleges: $80 million to Howard University and $50 million to Virginia State University. The...
Trump research overhaul: political vetting of grants and new funding compact
An executive order and related policy moves from the Trump administration are injecting political oversight into federal research funding, giving career grants new scrutiny by political appointees...
Williams alters handbook to recertify grants — Education Department still matters
Williams College faculty approved motions to remove race‑based language on admissions and hiring from the faculty handbook as part of an effort to comply with new federal grant conditions and...
Enrollment reality check: three questions every leader must answer
Higher‑education leaders are retooling recruitment and enrollment strategies as the traditional high‑school pipeline shrinks and student needs shift. Institutions are being urged to ask whether...
Non‑degree credential boom — states lead funding but data lag threatens oversight
A Pew Research Center report finds attainment of non‑degree credentials — certificates, bootcamps, micro‑credentials and apprenticeships — has tripled since 2009, with as many as one‑third of U.S....
Free speech and campus media: Indiana U reverses print ban after censorship fight
Indiana University restored funding and will allow the student newspaper to resume printing after administrators faced backlash for alleged attempts to censor a homecoming edition. The controversy...
AI curriculum and integrity... business schools add AI tracks as plagiarism norms shift
The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business announced a new AI concentration for full‑time MBA students, formalising coursework that blends AI fundamentals, business application, and...
Student mental health: AI models and near‑peer navigators scale supports
Researchers published a survey‑based, explainable AI model designed to classify student stress affordably and transparently, offering colleges a scalable tool to identify at‑risk students without...
China intimidation: Sheffield Hallam cuts Xinjiang forced‑labour research
Sheffield Hallam University halted publication and told a faculty member to stop investigating alleged forced labour in Xinjiang after sustained harassment, threats and pressure tied to Chinese...
Harvard Medical School explosion: officials say blast was intentional
Harvard Medical School reported an explosion on campus that officials now describe as intentional; surveillance footage captured two individuals fleeing the scene and the school has asked the...
B‑school deans brace for long‑term decline in international students
Deans at U.S. graduate business schools are reporting a sharp fall in international enrollment and expect the decline to persist, according to the Eduvantis Fall 2025 Business School Deans Survey....
VR versus video... Pepperdine finds immersive learning boosts empathy but needs debrief
A Pepperdine University study compared virtual reality and traditional video learning and found VR elicited higher engagement and empathy among business students when depicting the lives of day...
San José State rebrands college: new College of Information, Data and Society aims at Silicon Valley
San José State University renamed and reorganized an academic unit into the College of Information, Data and Society, consolidating its School of Information and Department of Applied Data Science...
OpenAI safety chair: Carnegie Mellon’s Kolter given authority to pause system releases
OpenAI appointed Carnegie Mellon professor Zico Kolter to lead a four‑person Safety and Security Committee with formal authority to halt the company’s release of new systems if they are judged...
Marcyliena Morgan dies at 75: Harvard’s Hip‑Hop Archive founder remembered
Marcyliena Morgan, founder of Harvard’s Hip‑Hop Archive, has died at 75. Morgan built a significant university collection of albums, scholarship and ephemera that helped establish hip‑hop as a...
Freshers’ reality: many students report loneliness despite expectations
Incoming university students are reporting loneliness and unmet social expectations during freshers’ week, with social media amplifying feelings of exclusion, according to student accounts and...
Can career changers plug teacher gaps? Trainee numbers fall, older entrants climb
England faces a steep fall in teacher trainees in some regions — the North East saw a 56% drop in five years — while entrants over 40 are the fastest‑growing trainee group, raising debate about...
Geoffrey Hinton warns AI will replace workers — universities face labour and training risks
Geoffrey Hinton, a seminal figure in AI, warned that corporate bets on artificial intelligence assume massive worker replacement is necessary for investors to profit. He argued that to justify the...
B-schools brace: long slide in international students
Business school deans across the U.S. reported steep drops in international graduate enrollment this fall and warned the decline will persist, according to an Eduvantis Fall 2025 Business School...