The Key with Inside Higher Ed

This season of Voices of Student Success, “Preparing Gen Z for Unknown Futures,” addresses challenges in readying young people for the next chapter of their lives in the face of large-scale global changes. The latest episode, featuring Handshake’s chief educational officer Christine Cruzvergara, discusses the current job market, graduating seniors’ perceptions of launching their careers and the ro...

In this episode of The Key, we turn the tables on host Sara Custer, editor in chief at Inside Higher Ed as she joins David Hummels, professor of economics and dean emeritus at Purdue University, and Jay Akridge, trustee chair in teaching and learning excellence, professor of agricultural economics and former provost at Purdue, in conversation with host Colleen Flaherty, senior editor, special cont...

This season of Voices of Student Success, “Preparing Gen Z for Unknown Futures,” addresses challenges in readying young people for the next chapter of their lives in the face of large-scale global changes. The latest episode addresses how digitalization has made it easier for young people to engage in unhealthy habits, including substance abuse, pathological gambling or social media addiction, com...

Many college leaders turned to civil discourse and dialogue programs in response to students protests that roiled campuses after the start of the Israel Hamas war. It’s work that they have been doing for decades, but a big question around these programs is: how do we know they’re working?   That question led to Raj Vinnakota, president of the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, an 80-year old non...

This season of Voices of Student Success, “Preparing Gen Z for Unknown Futures,” addresses challenges in readying young people for the next chapter of their lives in the face of large-scale global changes. This episode focuses on the world of work and how experiential learning can provide students with a glimpse into professional careers and what they don’t know about work.   Jane Swift , presiden...

We’ve turned the page on the third month of the Trump administration and the White House has shown no signs of slowing down when it comes to actions that have direct impacts on higher education in this country. Linda McMahon was confirmed as education secretary and has made quick work of shrinking the size and influence of her department. At the same time the agency opened investigations into repo...

There are a few elements of the student lifecycle in higher education that are unavoidable, one being general education courses. While a majority of college students are unaware of support resources or unlikely to engage with all of them , each student must fulfill common core curriculum.   For over a decade, the University of Louisville has offered an Oral Communication Success Guide for students...

People across higher education are calling on college presidents to speak out against the onslaught of threats and funding caught imposed by the Trump administration. But that is just one kind of leadership. Jorge Burmicky, assistant professor in education leadership and policy studies in the school of education at Howard University, joins Sara Custer, editor in chief at Inside Higher Ed, for this...

Mental health is one of the greatest threats to student persistence and retention in higher education, but providing large-scale preventative and responsive mental health care is a looming challenge for colleges and universities.   In addition to having sufficient clinicians and trained professionals to support students in need, finding ways to deliver wellness support to students before they’re i...

In this episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, editor in chief Sara Custer speaks with IHE’s news editor Katherine Knott about the policies, people and surprises from the first 30 days of the second Trump administration. They discuss the executive orders and actions that could have the most impact on higher ed and what pushback they’ve seen from the sector, as well as th...

Having successful career outcomes is important for colleges and also for students, but getting students to engage in career services can feel like an uphill battle. Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania leaders decided to bring careers to students with an event called LVC Success Expo . During this day, LVC cancels classes so students can engage in an all-day career fair or meet with academic sup...

At the beginning of February, the deadly L.A. wildfires were fully contained after burning for nearly a month. A few weeks ago we spoke with colleges in the city whose communities were upturned by the fires. Hundreds of students and staff had lost their homes and thousands more were displaced from evacuation zones. Now that the embers have died out, we wanted to check back in with one college to s...

Study abroad is tied to personal and professional growth for college students, but crossing the border can be an enormous hurdle for some learners or feel unattainable.   A new initiative at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania seeks to empower and support first-generation and low-income students who are interested in experiential learning and study away through workshops, financial aid and mentors...

In the run up to the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, Inside Higher Ed’s editor-in-chief Sara Custer and news editor Katherine Knott discuss what we know and what we don’t know about president-elect Trump’s policy agenda and how it could affect universities and colleges. Katherine and Sara discuss what sources are telling IHE reporters about incoming education secretary Linda McMahon and who...

Highly customized admissions information and processes. Credit transfer evaluations that take minutes, not days or weeks. Precision tuition discounting estimates. Student success interventions informed by data gathered about students before they ever even applied to their institution. These are some of the ways that artificial intelligence is or may soon be improving the enrollment management expe...

In his final days in the newsroom, editor and co-founder of Inside Higher Ed and host of The Key, Doug Lederman, sits down with editor-in-chief Sara Custer to discuss his nearly 40-year career in higher education and what he plans to do next. Doug talks about his work as a journalist over four decades, including leading Inside Higher Ed for the past 20 years. Doug shares what kept him up at night...

College presidents don’t work in a bubble and there are a multitude of competing priorities jostling for their time and attention on a daily basis. It can be an overwhelming job, but having a guiding purpose behind every decision a president makes, the teams they form and the long-term strategies they develop can help keep leaders on the right track. How do they know which areas deserve their atte...

Over the past two years, generative AI has blazed its way on to college campuses, first in the students’ hands and increasingly in the hands of administrators and instructors to improve campus operations and enrollment management, as well as teaching and learning. One of the greatest challenges of using generative AI in teaching is providing students with skills without interrupting the process of...

A recent IHE survey of university and college student success administrators found that they are confident in the quality of education their institution provides and say their college is effective in making student success an institutional priority. There are, however, still many areas where administrators say their institution can improve, with greater effort among faculty being the most common d...

A growing number of colleges and universities are integrating life design into the student experience to improve student well-being, academic pursuits and future planning beyond graduation. Life design, which originates from the 2016 book Designing Your Life, uses design thinking principles to help guide individuals as they navigate change and transition, ultimately helping them find meaning and p...

Many college libraries have undergone transformation in recent years to serve as hubs for student success, offering a central location for students to hang out, work with peers and connect to support resources like tutoring. This reimagination of the library often comes with a physical reconfiguration, relocation of offices and expanded services, all in hopes of supporting access and student succe...

Internships are a high-impact practice that can provide students with valuable career skills, a professional network and on-the-job experience, but not every student has the opportunity to participate. A recent report found of the 8.2 million students who wanted to intern in 2023, close to half didn’t participate in one. Many of these students are from historically marginalized groups, including f...

The partisan divide in the U.S. seems unbridgeable at times, and many issues in higher education are deeply dividing politicians. But with the 2024 election just days away, there’s a remarkable amount of alignment around the importance of workforce development and training and how to strengthen it. A new episode of The Key explores explores the relative consensus between the parties and its implic...

In this episode of The Key, Melissa Ezarik speaks with University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s chancellor, Donde Plowman, and Amber Williams, vice president of student success on their efforts to ensure their teams—and students—are aware of and confident about their strengths as they navigate their work. Williams, who  joined the institution  in 2020, soon before it fell a bit short on its retention...

In July 2023, Congress lifted a ban on federal Pell Grant funding for incarcerated individuals in prison education programs, but there still remain barriers to enrollment and success for these learners. The Petey Greene Program (PGP), a non-profit organization that partners with prisons and higher education institutions, launched a College Bridge program in 2020 to increase college-level writing,...