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$35M Per Year Investment in Summer School is Paying Off, Oregon Ed Officials Say – The 74

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Nearly 30,000 Oregon students took advantage of literacy-focused summer school programs and most made learning gains in 2025, according to the Oregon Department of Education.

The findings, shared in a recent analysis from the agency, show that the $35 million per year in consistent funding for summer school that lawmakers enshrined in law last year is working, according to education officials. They were supposed to discuss the findings Tuesday in the Legislature’s Joint Subcommittee on Education, but the meeting was cut short due to scheduling changes.

“Continued investment in summer learning is not only justified; it is a proven, accountable strategy that delivers measurable returns for students, communities, and the state,” officials wrote in the analysis.

Districts were required to report measured learning outcomes, but how learning was measured was largely left to districts, some of whom reported standardized test scores or teacher and student feedback, along with credit recovery numbers. Improving outcome measures and tracking gains over time are among the education department’s priorities for improving the summer learning programs in the year ahead, according to the presentation officials had prepared for lawmakers.

Applications for funding for upcoming 2026 summer programs opened on February 20 and grantees will be announced in April.

More than 106 school districts in 30 of the state’s 36 counties received funding for programs in 2025, and many partnered with community groups to reach a broader range of students, according to the analysis. Of the nearly 30,000 students who participated in programs, more than half were elementary aged kids in kindergarten through 5th grade. Another 31% were in high school and 15% were middle schoolers. Many were English-language learners and most attend school in rural areas.

“The big takeaway for us is, as the education department noted, the force-multiplier effect of those partnerships,” said Louis Wheatley, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Foundations for a Better Oregon.

The group was among those advocating for lawmakers to pass consistent summer school funding last year.

“This aligns what we see in tons of research on the power of partnerships with community-based organizations, particularly in rural regions,” Wheatley said.

Improving student literacy was the primary focus of all summer school programs, and 77% of schools reported that students maintained or improved their reading and writing skills, according to the report. Most of the high school programs focused on credit recovery, and 80% of high schoolers who participated earned credits needed to graduate, mostly in English Language Arts and Math.

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected].

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February 28, 2026
WEEKEND READING: Rethinking quality assurance in transnational higher education: why graduate employability now matters

This blog was kindly authored by Dr Stella Huili Si, TNE Policy Advisor at the TNE Institute and Dr Cheryl Yu, Director of Programmes for the TNE Institute

2025 / 2026 represents a critical juncture for transnational higher education. After more than a decade of rapid expansion, UK universities’ international campuses and transnational programmes are no longer peripheral initiatives; they have become embedded components of institutional strategy and global engagement. As transnational higher education systems mature, questions of long-term value, sustainability, and accountability inevitably move to the foreground.

This moment coincides with two significant policy developments in the UK. The UK Quality Code for Higher Education – Advice and Guidance 2025 signals a recalibration of quality assurance (QA) priorities towards student outcomes, proportionality, partnership responsibility, and continuous improvement. More recently, the publication of the International Education Strategy 2026 marks the first refresh of the UK’s international education policy since 2021 and the first under the current Labour Government. Co-owned by the Department for Education, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Strategy signals a renewed commitment to strengthening the global reach, reputation, and impact of UK higher education. Together, these frameworks suggest a clear shift: international education is no longer judged primarily by scale and compliance, but by its capacity to deliver meaningful outcomes for students, partners, and societies.

Policy context: employability and outcomes at the centre

The International Education Strategy 2026 articulates three core ambitions: to enhance the UK’s international standing through education and position the UK as a global partner of choice across the learning lifecycle; to sustainably recruit high-quality international students from a diverse range of countries; and to grow education exports to £40bn per year by 2030. Notably, the Strategy places transnational education at the centre of expanding access to high-quality UK provision overseas and strengthening the UK’s global education footprint.

For the first time, the Strategy also sets out a dedicated focus on the UK’s role as a trusted global partner in research and innovation, alongside a renewed emphasis on creating opportunities for UK students to study, work, and volunteer overseas. This framing positions transnational higher education not simply as a recruitment or export mechanism, but as a strategic instrument of long-term international engagement.

Within this context, sustainable international student recruitment and credible transnational partnerships depend increasingly on demonstrable graduate outcomes – particularly employability. The Strategy implicitly reinforces a key message: global reputation and competitiveness will be shaped not only by academic quality, but by whether graduates can translate their education into meaningful careers across diverse labour markets. The cases below demonstrate our arguments, and are largely drawn from our work with clients.

The limits of compliance-led quality assurance in mature transnational higher education systems

Case 1: In one long-running transnational programme, all formal quality assurance requirements were met, including curriculum mapping and staff approval. Yet graduate tracking revealed highly fragmented post-study pathways, with students unclear about employment options across jurisdictions and limited access to coordinated career support. These issues did not trigger quality assurance intervention, as existing reviews focused on delivery compliance rather than outcome coherence.

Compliance-led quality assurance has played a crucial role in enabling the growth of transnational higher education. By focusing on governance structures, staffing arrangements, curriculum alignment, and contractual clarity, it has provided reassurance to regulators and institutions alike. However, as transnational higher education systems mature, the limitations of this approach become increasingly apparent.

Procedural compliance can confirm that systems exist, but it cannot demonstrate whether those systems function effectively over time. Rich documentation does not necessarily translate into coherent student experiences, nor does regulatory approval guarantee that graduates are well-positioned to navigate complex cross-border labour markets.

As Dr. Lindsay Jones, Head of Global Business Development at Queen Mary, University of London, commented:

Up until now, Quality Assurance processes have quite rightly focused on academic rigour for transnational higher education programmes coupled with appropriate governance and compliance. However, the landscape has changed and a degree is not the automatic passport to a career that it once was. Modern, equitable partnerships understand the cultural nuances relating to employability in the country of delivery. Indeed, many TNE hosting partners in country have outstanding links with industry, employability opportunities and understanding of the local job market; which the UK partner would struggle to emulate. This can and should be considered as part of the academic journey for the students, in tandem with the academic subject.

This insight highlights a critical blind spot in traditional quality assurance: employability is often shaped by local industry ecosystems and partner expertise, yet remains marginal to formal quality processes.

This gap is most visible after graduation, when structural weaknesses emerge beyond the reach of input-focused QA.

Graduate employability as a core quality signal

In this context, graduate employability warrants renewed attention – not as an add-on metric, but as a core quality signal for mature transnational higher education systems.

Employability should not be conflated with graduate employment rates alone, nor reduced to labour market outcomes in the host country. In transnational contexts, graduates often navigate multiple regulatory environments, professional norms, and geographic labour markets. Viewed this way, employability functions as a proxy indicator for whether curriculum relevance, partnership design, industry engagement, and student support mechanisms are working in practice.

Case 2: In a compliant transnational programme with strong academic delivery, graduates reported difficulties translating their qualifications into recognised employment pathways outside the host context. While no formal quality assurance issues were identified during programme reviews, the absence of structured employability support across borders became evident only once graduates entered the labour market.

As Tao Chen, PhD FIET, Associate Vice-President (International), University of Surrey, argues:

In transnational higher education, quality assurance that stops at compliance is no longer sufficient. If graduates struggle to translate their degrees into meaningful employment, then quality has not been achieved – regardless of how robust the process and paper trails look. QA frameworks now need to treat employability as a core outcome and bring employers and industry partners directly into the design and review of programmes. Without this shift, quality assurance risks certifying systems rather than securing futures.

Crucially, employability also signals efficiency. Ineffective transnational higher education systems rarely fail at the point of approval; they fail after graduation.

From hosted provision to co-created education

The growing importance of employability reflects a deeper structural shift in transnational higher education. Many programmes have moved from hosted provision toward co-created education, characterised by joint curricula, shared staffing, and cross-border student identities.

Yet quality assurance frameworks have been slower to adapt. Accountability structures often remain institutionally siloed, aligned with national regulatory systems rather than with the realities of joint provision. Responsibility for graduate outcomes – particularly employability – is frequently assumed to sit with one partner, typically in the host context.

Case 3: In a jointly delivered programme, both partners fulfilled their respective quality assurance obligations. Teaching responsibilities were shared, and governance arrangements were clearly documented. However, graduate employability support was implicitly delegated to the host institution, despite students holding dual institutional identities and aspiring to international careers. As a result, employability became a residual responsibility—owned by neither partner, yet borne entirely by students.

This illustrates a governance paradox: educational provision is co-created, but accountability for outcomes is fragmented.

Why employability is also a governance and efficiency issue

The marginalisation of employability within quality assurance is not merely conceptual; it has governance and efficiency implications. Outcome-blind quality assurance does not fail because it is insufficiently rigorous, but because it detects risks too late.

Where employability trajectories are not considered, quality assurance processes tend to rely on repeated verification of delivery rather than early identification of structural weaknesses. Addressing problems retrospectively increases regulatory burden and remediation costs without preventing initial harm to students.

Integrating employability into quality assurance therefore supports proportionality by shifting attention toward earlier, more meaningful signals of risk—an approach aligned with both the 2025 Quality Code and the ambitions of the International Education Strategy 2026.

Redefining quality for the next phase of transnational higher education

As transnational higher education moves from expansion to maturity, quality can no longer be defined solely by compliance with prescribed processes. It must be understood as something produced through sustained coordination, shared responsibility, and demonstrable outcomes over time.

Graduate employability sits at the intersection of quality, governance, and international strategy. Bringing it into the core of quality assurance is not a departure from existing regulatory principles, but a necessary step in operationalising them for contemporary transnational partnerships.

If quality assurance is to remain credible in transnational higher education – particularly in a policy environment that explicitly positions transnational higher education as central to the UK’s global engagement—it must evolve to reflect how quality is actually produced, experienced, and realised in graduates’ lives.

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February 28, 2026
LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho Placed on Paid Leave After FBI Raids – The 74

The Los Angeles Unified School District board has voted to place Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on paid administrative leave, two days after the FBI raided his San Pedro home and district headquarters and searched a residence in Florida.

While on leave, Carvalho will continue to receive pay, with a salary of $440,000. And Andres Chait, who has served as LAUSD’s chief of school operations, will step in as acting superintendent, effective immediately. The length of Carvalho’s leave, which is pending investigation, has not been disclosed.

The board’s nearly 8-hour-long discussion began Thursday evening, and the closed session meeting was recessed until 12:30 Friday. The final vote, which came in at about 3:45 p.m., was unanimous.

“This is a very challenging time,” Board President Scott Schmerelson said at the board meeting following Friday’s announcement. “And I want you to know that the board believes in you, supports you, and knows that you will all continue to do your very best to support the students and families of the district.”

Press release from LAUSD

Carvalho hasn’t made any public comments since the FBI raids. The agency has also not released further information on the investigation, and the search warrant affidavits remain sealed. Carvalho has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

So far, media reports have connected the raids to the company AllHere Education, with which both LAUSD and Miami-Dade County Public Schools had entered into agreements.

Three months after Los Angeles Unified rolled out Ed, an AI chatbot developed by AllHere, the company’s founder and CEO, Joanna Smith-Griffin, left. She was later arrested and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Meanwhile, the property searched in Southwest Ranches, Florida, in Broward County, reportedly belongs to Debra Kerr, whose records show is an AllHere contractor and maintained ties with Carvalho. According to The 74, her son, Richard Kerr, pitched the now-defunct AI company to LAUSD.

Related

Feds Charge Once-Lauded AllHere AI Founder in $10M Scheme to Defraud Investors

“We must strive for stability and continuity so that every school can stay focused on teaching and learning and on building on the meaningful gains the district has made in recent years,” said Yoli Flores, the president and CEO of Families in Schools.

“At the same time, we acknowledge that public discourse around our schools is inevitably shaped by broader political dynamics. It is essential that investigations and public actions be grounded in evidence and fairness.”

Chait has worked in the district since 1998, starting out as a teacher at Queen Anne Place Elementary School. He has since worked as an assistant principal and principal. He went on to serve as a field director, the administrator of operations for LAUSD’s Local District Northeast from 2015 to 2019, encompassing roughly 120 schools, and eventually the local district superintendent and chief of school operations.

Andres Chait (LAUSD)

“Chait is a highly regarded leader and educator, and we are lucky to have him step in seamlessly to oversee our schools,” Schmerelson said in a written statement. “Over the past several years, our educators and students have made enormous strides, and we expect that progress to continue unimpeded.”

He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC Berkeley and a master’s in education administration from Cal State Los Angeles.

“I am humbled by the Board’s confidence in appointing me to serve as Acting Superintendent during this critical time,” Acting Superintendent Andres Chait said. “Our focus remains clear: to ensure stability, continuity, and strong leadership for our students, families, and employees.”

This story was originally published on EdSource.

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February 28, 2026
A1 Portrait Version of Taxonomies Poster Now Available – Dr Simon Paul Atkinson (PFHEA)

Delighted to share the 2026 Comprehensive Taxonomies of Educational Objectives A1 poster now in portrait! This size is required to ensure the detail is legible, but it does mean it takes up some wall space!

The poster contains five educational domains and a mapping of these hierarchies onto a version of the SOLO taxonomy. The five domains that all sound courses and programmes should write outcomes for are: cognitive (intellectual), affective (values), psychomotor (manual/practical), metacognitive (reflection/epistemology) and interpersonal (communicaitons, conflict resolution, collaboration, and cross-cultural communication)

The poster is available worldwide from local printers through Pritify.com. You can order it here

A1 Matte Poster in portrait. It shows all five taxonomises of educational objectives as well as a mapping of these to the SOLO taxonomy. Poster also includes three explanatory elements.

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February 27, 2026
Under Secretary Kent Says Higher Ed Needs a “Hard Reset”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Education under secretary Nicholas Kent opened day two of the American Council on Education’s annual meeting with a clear and pointed statement—American higher education needs a “hard reset.” And much of that reset, he said, is already underway.

Once a collaborative partnership funded by taxpayers to promote innovation and merit-based social mobility, higher ed has been tainted by ideologically driven universities that accept billions while “resisting any meaningful accountability for results,” the under secretary said. Now, “those days are over.”

“If you want a partnership with the federal government, it must be a real partnership, grounded in transparency, measurable outcomes and a commitment to students and taxpayers alike,” Kent explained, adding that change is coming whether institutions like it or not. “I hope that you all are ready, having made it through the five stages of grief and, most importantly, reaching the final state of acceptance.”

He also cited several public opinion polls showing declining trust in the value of a college degree.

“To paraphrase James Kvaal … ‘This is not a PR problem; this is an actual problem for you,’” Kent said, drawing from a separate session the previous evening that was closed to the media and deemed off the record.

But many college leaders in the room appeared to take issue with Kent’s comments. Throughout the under secretary’s speech, many shared murmurs of disagreement and at times laughed, scoffing at his remarks. A few left the room.

After Kent’s speech, Jon Fansmith, the council’s senior vice president of government relations, took to the stage and offered a sort of rebuttal.

“I will point out the irony with [Kent’s] concluding remarks that they want to work with us,” he said. “Working generally involves a partnership, not acquiescence.”

Kent’s Friday morning keynote captured the tensions between the sector and government officials over what flaws exist in American higher education and how to fix them. Very few—be they lawmakers, university presidents or accrediting agencies—disagree that mounting student debt, struggles to keep pace with workforce demands and threats to campus free speech are problems. Where opinions diverge is on what changes need to be made in response to these issues, who should make them and how solutions should be regulated.

Actions and statements made by the administration throughout its first year suggest that in many cases, it will use executive action and regulation to force reform.

Congressional Republicans fell in line with Trump’s agenda by passing a sweeping spending bill that dramatically limited loan access and launched a new earnings test that could cost hundreds of thousands of students access to federal aid. Kent boasted that his department reached consensus on every provision of the bill when ironing out the details in a process called negotiated rule making, though some of the negotiators who sat at the table say that unanimous agreement was strong-armed.

Meanwhile, since the president’s first days in office, multiple executive agencies have opened civil rights investigations and frozen billions in funding to crack down on the so-called mismanagement of accusations of antisemitism, failure to protect female athletes and illegal diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“The question isn’t whether change is coming—it is whether you will help lead it,” Kent said during his speech.

There is no denying the speed and intensity with which the administration has worked to enact the changes in last summer’s reconciliation bill and bring higher education institutions to heel. Sector stakeholders remain concerned about their ability to be in compliance with the new regulations by the July 1 deadline and the consequences that might follow.

Fansmith advised college leaders to stay alert and informed through the remainder of the Trump administration. While the upcoming midterm elections, economic challenges and international affairs may draw the attention of Trump and his immediate White House advisers away from higher ed, that doesn’t mean the war is over, he said.

Instead of Truth Social attacks on individual faculty members or wealthy universities from the president himself, the entire sector should expect a more widespread, pervasive ambush, Fansmith warned.

“The president’s not going to be talking about Harvard nearly as much as he did last year, but the Department of Education is going to be doing more and more to implement systemic change,” he said. It will be “putting the things in place that will impact 4,000 institutions rather than 50. And we saw that across all of the under secretary’s proposals that he laid out.”

Still, just as it had the day before, the council urged institutions not to give in. Instead, Fansmith encouraged them to resist the “federal takeover.” Circling back to the under secretary’s remarks about grief and acceptance of change, he reminded the audience that grief is about permanent loss, while “nothing that has happened in the last year is permanent.”

“This administration wants us to move to acceptance of all of their policies … [And] of course, we’ll follow the law to the best of our ability,” he said. But “the one thing I didn’t hear in any of the conversations we’ve had over the last couple days is acceptance.

“We can deal with change. We always do,” he added. “But we don’t have to accept a view of who we are or what we do that is so misleading and misrepresentative.”

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February 27, 2026
House hearing stresses that AI teacher training is a must

Lawmakers expressed bipartisan interest in a larger federal role in support for AI professional development during a recent subcommittee hearing.

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February 27, 2026
If ICE Won’t Show a Warrant, What Can Campuses Do?

Since President Trump took office with the promise of mass deportations, college leaders have consistently gotten the same advice from lawyers, consultants and Democratic state officials: If federal immigration agents try to enter nonpublic spaces on campus, ask for a judicial warrant or subpoena. Campuses have disseminated this guidance to staff and students in communitywide messages and resources for months.

But on Thursday, Columbia University tried that, and it didn’t work.

Five Department of Homeland Security agents gained access to a campus residential building by pretending to be searching for a missing child, Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia, said in a statement Thursday night. A university security camera captured footage of the agents showing photos of the alleged missing child in the hallway.

They then detained Ellie Aghayeva, a student from Azerbaijan, in her apartment. A public safety officer “asked multiple times for a warrant, which was not produced, and asked for time to call his boss, which was not given,” Shipman said. Aghayeva was released Thursday afternoon, after a conversation between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Trump.

A DHS spokesperson denied that agents misrepresented themselves in a statement to Inside Higher Ed. According to DHS, agents “verbally identified themselves and visibly wore badges around their necks,” and a building manager and Aghayeva’s roommate allowed agents into the apartment. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “placed her in removal proceedings” and released her while she waits for a hearing. Her student visa was allegedly terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes.

The spokesperson did not address claims that ICE refused to produce a warrant.

The incident raises new questions for college leaders about how to prepare their campuses for visits from ICE agents and protect their immigrant and international students: If ICE throws out the rules, what does that mean for higher ed’s playbook?

Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said, “What happened, as it’s been described, is deeply concerning.”

“When federal agents enter residential buildings under reported misrepresentation, it creates fear and instability in what should be one of the safest places on campus,” she said. Aghayeva’s detainment shows that “even when campuses follow protocols and the law, that doesn’t mean immigration officers will do so.”

Revamping Protocols

Nonetheless, Feldblum believes the guidance given to higher ed leaders should hold.

As far as she’s concerned, Columbia did all the right things to prepare for ICE: It differentiated between public and private spaces on campus and had protocols in place for demanding to see a judicial warrant if ICE tried to enter a private area. In the aftermath of the incident, the university ramped up campus safety measures, including increased public safety patrols around residential buildings and clarifying that residential staff should not allow law enforcement in during nonemergency situations without guidance from university public safety and the Office of General Counsel.

“Just because federal immigration officers are not following the law does not mean that campuses do not need to have protocols in place,” Feldblum said, “because what we learned from Columbia … is that when campuses have the protocols in place, then they are far better positioned to respond quickly when something’s happening and to support their students when a detention takes place.”

The university offered legal services to Aghayeva and “started work immediately to gain her release” with “help and support” from the mayor and governor, according to statements from Shipman.

Feldblum emphasized that institutions need to focus on what they can control.

“Institutions can control their internal procedures, even when they can’t control what federal immigration enforcement tactics are,” she said.

Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, a scholarship provider for undocumented students, said campuses need to teach all staff members and students—not just administrators and public safety officers—when and how to ask for a judicial warrant, if they haven’t already. She also encouraged immigrant and international students to have the name and phone number of an immigration attorney memorized should anything like this happen to them.

This incident is the result of “an agency that has no oversight … that has now way too much power to lie” and is “going after individuals in an illegal and unlawful way” with insufficient training, Pacheco said. “College campuses, unfortunately, from students to professors and staff, are now going to have to be vigilant and ensure that they protect each other, because we cannot trust our government to do the right thing.”

Pacheco also praised Columbia for providing legal support services to Aghayeva, noting it’s “the least” institutions can do when “one student [is up] against the United States government and the Department of Homeland Security.”

Calling for Accountability

In an environment where federal agents don’t always follow the law, advocates for immigrant students argued it’s important to pair these campus protocols and services with demands that ICE officers be held accountable by federal lawmakers.

Aghayeva’s detainment comes at a time when Senate Democrats are blocking a bill that would provide additional funding for DHS, demanding reforms to immigration enforcement. And public school districts and university faculty members recently sued ICE over its policy of allowing immigration actions on or near public schools and college campuses. On Trump’s second day in office, DHS rescinded protections for “sensitive areas,” making campuses fair game for immigration enforcement actions. Since then, a number of detentions have occurred on or near campuses, including the arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist, and Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University.

Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement on Friday that “ICE has no place in or around schools—period.”

Mazzola told Inside Higher Ed that colleges should put ICE preparation protocols in place and retrain staff on how to uphold them, but at the end of the day, “it’s really on ICE. They need to stop undermining the rule of law” and lawmakers need to ensure “oversight and accountability.”

“It really does put students in a state of terror,” he said. “People aren’t going to feel safe going to law enforcement if they’re concerned that ICE is pretending to be law enforcement in certain situations, if those rumors are correct from Columbia. So, it’s imperative that we rein in ICE.”

Higher ed leaders should add their voices to the chorus that federal agents be made to follow the law and keep away from sensitive zones, such as churches, schools, universities and hospitals, Feldblum said.

Shipman, in her statement, called out ICE in no uncertain terms.

“Let me be clear—misrepresenting identity and other facts to gain access to a residential building is a breach of protocol,” Shipman said. “All law enforcement agencies—including DHS and ICE—are obligated to follow established legal and ethical standards. And we expect those standards to be respected.”

Pacheco said it’s time for higher ed administrators and trustees nationally to send a message to lawmakers and federal officials: “This is unacceptable. This cannot happen again.”

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February 27, 2026
‘We will hold institutions accountable,’ top US education official vows

At the American Council on Education’s annual conference, Under Secretary Nicholas Kent promised changes to accreditation and other policies.

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February 27, 2026
Check out the Collaborative Cybersecurity EDUCAUSE Showcase #shorts

Check out the Collaborative Cybersecurity EDUCAUSE Showcase #shorts

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February 27, 2026
Four key takeaways from the AIEA Conference 2026

US market share is shrinking, but the pie continues to grow

The total number of internationally mobile students reached 7.3 million in 2025, according to UNESCO, a number only set to grow in the coming years.

But traditional student flows are changing. While the US held 28% of the international student market share in 2001, last year that proportion had fallen to 16%, with further declines expected across the ‘big four’ study destinations.

As the US continues to weather a period of unprecedented policy changes and visa restrictions, AIEA delegates were reminded of the enduring prestige of US academia and research and were urged to make the most of existing markets.

“We can’t control immigration policy or broader political rhetoric, but we can control how we show up for prospective students,” said Megan Prettyman, VP partner success at UniQuest.

“Compared to competitor markets, North American institutions often lag in inquiry management. This problem isn’t driven by market conditions – it’s purely execution,” she said.

Prettyman highlighted comparative data showing US institutions trailing behind counterparts in Australia, New Zealand and the UK in inquiry responses and follow-ups, emphasising the impact of the inquiry experience on conversion rates.

“If the funnel narrows naturally, conversion efficiency becomes the biggest growth lever,” attendees heard.

Meanwhile, despite acute challenges, speakers said America’s capacity to host international students was “unmatched” by competitor destinations, with international students currently comprising 6% of the total student body, compared to 25% and higher across the other ‘big four’ destinations.

TNE is not just a way to “ride out the storm”

As visa restrictions, policy uncertainty and affordability constraints continue to dampen the appeal of the ‘big four’ study destinations, transnational education (TNE) was on everyone’s lips as US institutions explore ways to remain globally competitive.

“There are a lot of conversations on international branch campuses and access difficulties in getting here to the US,” QS executive director of the Americas Ben Webb told the closing plenary, hailing “the great pivot” towards TNE and the promise of “education without passports”.

But leaders warned delegates not to view TNE as a short-term policy solution: “You’ve got to think of it as a 20-year investment in a market rather than just going there to ride out the storm,” said Kirsten Fedderson, IDP vice president of partnerships.

Meanwhile, Acumen’s Noth America president Roger Brindley emphasised the “many variations on the TNE continuum”, encouraging university leaders to look beyond in-country branch campuses and explore the possibility of more flexible and affordable options.

He highlighted the success of UK universities’ TNE strategies, where the number of students on TNE programs has surpassed 650,000 and almost matched the number of international students studying in the UK.

“It’s entirely probable there will be more students gaining an Australian degree overseas than ever travel to Australia. And the question is for us and Canada… do we want to be part of that conversation?” Brindley asked.

You’ve got to think of TNE as a 20-year investment in a market rather than just going there to ride out the storm

Kirsten Fedderson, IDP

Graduate enrolments face unique challenges, and opportunities

With IIE’s Fall Snapshot revealing a 12% decline in international graduate enrolments this year – as undergraduate levels grew by 2% – delegates convened to discuss the unique challenges facing PhD and master’s recruitment, and how institutions can strengthen this talent pipeline.

“Graduate enrolment is distinctly vulnerable in several areas,” said Jessica Sandberg, IDP’s VP for external affairs USA, noting that recruitment was typically decentralised across campus, making strategies less adaptable to fast-paced policy changes.

What’s more, “graduate students have a shorter timeline, making them particularly sensistive to political and economic circumstances as they can’t afford to wait and see if the situation improves”, Sandberg explained.

While large variations exist across universities, almost every delegate in the room said their institution had seen a dip in graduate enrolments this year, with many raising concerns about applicants from Nigeria and Iran – destinations that have long sent high levels of PhD students to the US, who are now blocked by Trump’s travel ban.

Attendees’ experiences rang true with IDP’s fall 2025 student survey, in which 40% of graduate students indicated their perception of the US had worsened since the previous year, and 82% said they now considered multiple study destinations.

Notably, the survey  found 66% of graduate students would “definitely change” or “reconsider” their study destination if post-study work opportunities were eliminated – as threats to restrict or abolish OPT continue to loom large over the US sector.

Amid the challenges, speakers said timely decision making was even more “crucial” to conversion at the graduate level and shared opportunities to foster international partnerships around specific programs, including possible 1+1 and hybrid options.

“We used to recruit for graduate and then we didn’t… and I think it will come full circle,” said Kiki Caruson, vice president of USF World at the University of South Florida.

Caruson outlined the specific challenges facing Florida institutions, as the state legislature considers imposing a 5% cap on out-of-state enrolments at public universities – covering both international students and domestic students from outside Florida.

“I hope it won’t happen, but we’re trying to be agile in future proofing, so if we need to pull back on undergraduate, our in-country representatives will flip to graduate… and they can recruit for graduate just as effectively as they can recruit for undergraduate,” she said.

Insitutions are building resilience through partnership networks

Elsewhere in the conference, IIE presented fresh data from the first iteration of its global partnerships survey, revealing steady growth not only in the importance of such links, but the scrutiny they are being subjected to in higher education and beyond.

With the first phase of the survey taking place across the US, UK and Europe, 84% of respondents said the international partnership landscape had changed and over half reported having more than 100 international partnerships.

“Changing geopolitical relationships have dramatically affected international partnership strategies,” said IIE research associate Susan Buck Sutton.

“There are more partnerships, they’re stronger than ever, they’re doing more things and they are spread more broadly… If there’s a sermon to this – and there is – it’s that the network is primed for the challenges of the present that we’re all feeling,” she added.

The survey found international partnerships were becoming more strategic, multi-functional, and carefully planned, with institutions broadening geopolitical portfolios and enhancing relationships with the global south.

“The idea of signing MOUs for the sake of signing MOUs has changed over the last decade,” said Sylvia Jons, director of IIE’s Centre for International Partnerships, highlighting a reduction in ceremonial agreements without activity and rising accountability for the outcomes of such initiatives.

Drawing on themes of data and storytelling that emerged throughout the conference, speakers emphasised the importance of using the findings to “explain these partnerships beyond ourselves” – not only their economic impact but the values that can be translated for employers and governmental agencies, said Buck Sutton.

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February 27, 2026