Deep Dives | Inside Higher Ed

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Faculty Career Development

Can Colleges Achieve Viewpoint Diversity Without ‘Affirmative Action for Conservatives’?

Universities and groups pushing to change higher ed have said they support intellectual diversity and similar terms. But few say they’re explicitly trying to attract more right-leaning scholars.

A man with gray hair wearing a white shirt stands in front of a row of high school students sitting in bleachers.

Admissions Traditional-Age

Colleges Want More Rural Students. This University Leader Traveled to Them.

The head of the University of Tennessee System visited 16 rural high schools over two weeks, trying to sell students on the value of a UT education—and fight the perception that a four-year degree isn’t right for rural students.

Hands holding up tools specific to their occupation, a stethoscope, a hard hat, a book and a gavel.

Student Success Life After College

Career Prep When No One Knows What’s Next

Making sure graduates get jobs comes with high stakes—and the jobs outlook is especially hazy. This is what colleges are doing to prepare students for an uncertain future.

A photo illustration collage of speech bubbles, the U.S. Capitol building, a professor gesturing in front of a whiteboard, a stack of 100-dollar bills, and a cell phone displaying an AI chat bot.

Governance Executive Leadership

From AI Use to Funding Cuts: How Provosts Are Navigating 2026

Inside Higher Ed’s annual CAO survey reveals a fractured landscape, where academic leaders rely on personal AI tools amid broader technological and political disruption.

A photo illustration of three school buildings being used to play three-card monte. A hand on the left is revealing a pile of money and another hand is revealing an empty space under a building.

Government Student Aid Policy

Under New Loan Limits, Students Struggle to Finance Final Year

Evolving guidance from the Education Department shut two students out of federal student loans. “It really feels like someone’s stabbing you,” one mom told Inside Higher Ed.

The National Institutes of Health building next to an environmental portrait of NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, a middle-aged South Asian American man with medium brown skin and gray hair, wearing glasses and a suit.

Government Science & Research Policy

The NIH Director Says a Lot. Critics Call Much of It Misleading.

Jay Bhattacharya insists he wants to restore trust in the National Institutes of Health. Current and former agency employees say he’s doing the opposite.

Three photos color blocked in gray, orange and tan from the campus of Wenzhou-Kean University WKU in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

Faculty Contingent Faculty

Inside the ‘Culture of Fear’ at One American-Chinese University

Faculty at Wenzhou-Kean have accused their employer of obfuscatory employment agreements, wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation and lack of shared governance. University officials dispute the charges.

A photo illustration collage featuring a robot hand, money fluttering across the canvas, a silhouette of the U.S. Capitol dome, arrows pointing up and down, and the cover of the 2026 Survey of College and University Chief Business Officers.

Business Financial Health

CBOs Are Over Weathering Storms

Chief financial officers may be cautiously optimistic about the near-term financial outlook after a volatile year, but they also want structural change—now. Do they have the tools and buy-in to make it happen?