Commentary and analysis on today’s most pressing concerns and innovative practices in higher education policy and research. Staffed by ACE’s Research and Government Relations departments, along with guest posts from ACE members and other scholars working in the field to define and assess the critical challenges facing colleges and universities. Together, these posts provide college leaders and public policymakers with the latest on issues such as access, financial aid, data, Congress and the administration, re-imagining diversity and equity on campus, and public higher education finance.

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Debating the Necessity for “Positive Discrimination” at the Oxford Union

The legal and societal debate over the higher education community’s use of race and ethnicity as one way to pursue diversity on college campuses isn’t confined to the United States, even if the terminology can be a bit different. Read about Ada Meloy’s experience at a recent Oxford Union debate, “This House believes positive discrimination is a necessary evil.”

Now What? Some Insights From OECD’s Adult Skills Survey

We’re not learning only in the classroom anymore—and maybe we never were. A new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report shows that throughout the world, the workplace is a critical learning environment. The question is, what does that mean for educational policy and adult learners?

Higher Education Has Changed. Will the Higher Education Act?

The perennial joke about any reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) is that it’s like a Russian novel: It’s long, it’s boring, and by the end, everyone winds up dead. But as yet another HEA reauthorization rolls around, it’s a good bet that many of us will think there’s a fair amount of truth in that old chestnut, writes ACE Senior Vice President Terry Hartle.

Pursuing a Diverse Campus in a Post-Fisher World

There’s no need in the wake of the Fisher ruling for colleges and universities to put the brakes on the use of race and ethnicity in admissions decisions, as long as their senior leaders, admissions officers and legal counsels keep certain principles in mind and implement carefully crafted policies, writes Ada Meloy.