The three-year bachelor’s degree is coming to Texas, marking an emphatic expansion of the growing accelerated-degree movement. Gov. Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to build a framework for a three-year bachelor’s degree to drive down college costs and boost completion in high-wage, high-demand fields. “Every semester adds to tuition, fees, housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses, and delays students’ ability to begin their careers,” Abbott wrote when announcing the directive. Accelerated bachelor’s degrees typically require only 90 to 96 credits to complete, rather than the typical 120 that have shaped the past century.
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Thursday, September 10, 2026
ChatGPT boosts student scores while critical-thinking training broadens ideas - Emma Thompson, Ed Tech Innovation Hub
A new study shows giving university students access to ChatGPT helped them produce higher-scoring, more expert-like work, but a separate critical-thinking intervention changed something the traditional grading rubric largely missed: the range and distinctiveness of their ideas. The randomized controlled trial, conducted by researchers at Bocconi University in collaboration with OpenAI Economic Research, involved 1,053 first-year undergraduates studying economics, management and finance. Students were split into four groups. One received access to ChatGPT Edu using GPT-4o, another completed training in causal reasoning, a third received both, and a control group received neither. They were then given 45 minutes to tackle the same real-world business problem, producing a short consultant-style recommendation for increasing awareness and use of their university’s merchandise among alumni. On the conventional performance measure, ChatGPT made the clearest difference. Students with GPT access scored an estimated 0.86 points higher on a five-point scale than the control group, whose estimated score was 2.09. Their recommendations were also more similar to those produced independently by three domain experts.
Artificial Intelligence as a Pedagogical Tool in Higher Education: Enhancing Reflection and Formative Assessment - Nancy Marsh and Nan Flickinger, Faculty Focus
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has generated both enthusiasm and apprehension among educators. This article argues that AI can serve as an adaptive pedagogical partner, enhancing formative assessment, reflection, and metacognitive learning. Through illustrative examples, the study demonstrates how AI can provide individualized feedback and foster deeper conceptual understanding. The discussion emphasizes the ethical and pedagogical implications of AI integration, positioning it as a catalyst for reflective and responsible learning practices. The article concludes that AI, when employed intentionally, can amplify human instruction and promote the development of digitally literate, critically engaged learners. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education pedagogy is often less formidable than it may initially appear. When educators reconceptualize AI not as a disruptive force but as an adaptive, resource-rich instructional tool, the possibilities for enhancing student learning and engagement expand considerably.
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
USC and UCLA bet big on AI to meet soaring student, job market demands - Jaweed Kaleem, LA Times
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.
How Accreditation Changes Could Impact Professional Licensure - Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed
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.
Canada Hires 48 Scholars Away From Top U.S. Universities - Vjosa Isai, NY Times
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Faster Technology Cycles Mean Faster Retraining Cycles - Hugo Villar, Evolllution
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.
What employers are looking for in the age of AI — and four ways to provide it - Ben Deighton, Nature
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.
UC Irvine School of Education to lead $10 million national center on AI and postsecondary writing - UC Irvine
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.
Monday, September 7, 2026
GPT-6 Astra - OpenAI
(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.
Education Department takes first step to strip ABA of accreditation authority - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive
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.
Online career training is growing – does it work? - Steven Yoder, the Hechinger Report
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.
Friday, September 4, 2026
Texas governor pushes for 3-year degree pathways - Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive
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.
Schools are starting to teach AI literacy. For many, that means helping kids see chatbots’ flaws - JOCELYN GECKER and RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press
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.”
The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical. - Bill Gates, linkedIn Pulse
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
Thursday, September 3, 2026
Ghost students: Why one-time identity verification is not enough - Mouhamad Mbacke, University Business
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.
Lessons from AASCU: Why regional universities are built for online growth - Risepoint
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.
How New Visa Limits Are Already Affecting Colleges - Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed
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.
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Now Is the Time to Plan and Prepare Your Students and Colleagues on Workplace AI - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
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.
Higher education systems are quickly moving toward financial peril - Alcino Donadel, University Business
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.
DHS to propose end of 60-day grace period for H-1B visa holders - Kathryn Moody, Higher Ed Dive
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
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