Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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For too many learners, working while in college is a barrier to career growth
Many on-campus jobs offer little career development, but these opportunities can be reimagined to align with students’ professional goals, one expert says.
Jane Swift • Aug. 29, 2024 -
Admissions shouldn’t be about the tests anymore
The test-optional movement could pave the way for stronger admissions and student success policies, one administrator argues.
Emily Rawers • June 24, 2024 -
Liberal arts colleges must embed career services throughout campus life
Colleges should strive to teach students both how to think and to be career-ready when they graduate, the leader of Denison University argues.
Adam Weinberg • May 28, 2024 -
Colleges need free expression reform — not damage control
Restoring public trust in higher education will require more than public relations and crisis management strategies, argues a Bipartisan Policy Center official.
Matthew Kuchem • May 13, 2024 -
Gen Z is attending college online — and their parents are joining them. Here’s how to help.
Colleges can encourage parental support while still maintaining boundaries, says a student success expert at Penn State World Campus.
Dawn Coder • March 25, 2024 -
How universities can prepare graduates for an AI-driven world
Colleges should focus on teaching the life skills that will outlast inevitable technological changes, the president of High Point University contends.
Nido Qubein • March 11, 2024 -
Colleges need a deliberate online strategy to better serve first-generation students
Higher education leaders won’t meet the moment if their virtual courses merely replicate face-to-face learning, Western Governors University’s leader says.
Scott Pulsipher • Feb. 5, 2024 -
Higher education’s accomplishments you may have missed in 2023
Two leaders in the higher ed industry kick off the new year by rounding up 24 wins "for which the sector can be justly proud.”
Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel • Jan. 31, 2024 -
Policymakers must strengthen — not dismantle — the college accreditation system
Recent attacks on accreditation pose a dire threat to students and the nation’s postsecondary institutions.
Madison Weiss • Dec. 22, 2023 -
Colleges that can’t survive owe their employees dignified closures
The library director of a small Pennsylvania college lays out what leaders should consider when their institutions are struggling to stay open.
Mari Flynn • Dec. 11, 2023 -
How campuses can protect free speech and student safety amid the Israel-Hamas war
Administrators can take steps to embrace free expression and delineate between speech and violence, two PEN America staff members say.
Kristen Shahverdian and Sam LaFrance • Nov. 21, 2023 -
President Speaks: Colleges need an overhaul to meet the future head on
Higher education faces an existential threat from forces like rapidly changing technology and generational shifts, one university leader argues.
Beth Martin • Oct. 30, 2023 -
The Supreme Court is poised to drop another DEI shoe next year
Another case pending before the high court may further restrict what employers can lawfully do to increase diversity.
Jonathan A. Segal and Adam D. Brown • Oct. 25, 2023 -
Revamping incoming students’ experience can help them academically and socially
A Worcester Polytechnic Institute official shares why the university recently updated its orientation, advising and physical education requirement.
Paul Reilly • Oct. 23, 2023 -
Colleges can take steps to address the affordable housing crisis
From contributing underutilized land to tapping government support, institutions can help alleviate the problem — and get a return on their investment.
Eric Maribojoc • Oct. 16, 2023 -
Top-ranked colleges must be proactive to foster campus diversity
Here are the steps higher education officials should take to mitigate the fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against race-conscious admissions.
Mauriell Amechi • Oct. 2, 2023 -
Colleges are ditching the SAT. The high school transcript should be next.
Next generation credentials are a compentency-based alternative to transcripts that allow colleges to make better admissions decisions.
Laurie Gagnon • Sept. 12, 2023 -
President Speaks: With DEI under siege, independent colleges must advance conversations on diversity
Private institutions must step up as politicians attempt to muzzle public colleges on issues of diversity and race, Saybrook University’s leader argues.
Nathan Long • Aug. 7, 2023 -
President Speaks: Lessons about bold women leadership from a college president
Deanne D'Emilio, who helms Gwynedd Mercy University, discusses how she carries on the private college's legacy of women leaders.
Deanne D’Emilio • July 24, 2023 -
Here are ways professional education leaders can prepare students for the rise of AI
Institutions must adapt their curricula to incorporate artificial intelligence-related topics, the dean of William & Mary Law School argues.
A. Benjamin Spencer • July 17, 2023 -
How federal workforce programs can leave some students without credentials
Federal law merely suggests that training providers confer a credential, but they are not required to do so, denying some participants an economic edge.
Christopher Mullin • July 10, 2023 -
Academic freedom is a core American value. We must defend it.
Assaults on free expression threaten to stifle intellectual life on campus, argues the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Mildred García • July 5, 2023 -
President Speaks: The case for being optimistic about higher education’s future
Andrew Hsu, leader of the College of Charleston, explains why he remains positive even as colleges face an existential crisis.
Andrew Hsu • June 26, 2023 -
The shift to majority contingent faculty is more harmful to tenure than GOP attacks
Political attacks on tenure won’t matter if it’s effectively eliminated to save money with contingent positions, one professor emeritus argues.
J.W. Traphagan • June 16, 2023 -
How liberal arts colleges can make career services a priority
Creating internships and focusing on short-term experiences has a big impact, the longtime undergraduate dean at the University of Chicago says.
John Boyer • June 5, 2023