Created by the College Board, Advanced Placement (AP) is a program that offers college-level courses and exams students can take in high school. Most, but not all, states have a statewide AP credit policy for their public colleges and universities. Most four-year colleges and universities in the U.S.—and many institutions in more than 100 other countries—grant credit or advanced placement (or both) for qualifying AP Exam scores. According to the College Board, options for earning college credit or advanced placement (or both), depend on the policy of the college:

• Credit: Some colleges use AP scores to offer college credit. Students can graduate from college early and save money on tuition by earning credit for qualifying AP scores. A certain number of credits (usually 120 for a bachelor’s degree) are commonly needed, depending on the college major.
• Advanced placement: At some colleges, students can skip certain introductory courses and gain placement in more advanced courses with qualifying AP scores.

Refers to the policies, processes, roles, standards, and oversight mechanisms used to guide how artificial intelligence (AI) is developed, selected, deployed, used, and monitored within an organization or system.

AI governance establishes who is responsible for AI-related decisions, what uses are permitted or restricted, and how organizations manage risks related to accuracy, privacy, security, bias, transparency, accountability, and other potential impacts.

Effective AI governance may include approved-use policies, human oversight requirements, risk assessments, data protections, documentation and audit trails, procedures for reviewing AI-generated outputs, and rules governing when AI systems may act autonomously and when human approval is required.

As AI systems become more capable—including agentic AI systems that can plan and carry out multi-step tasks—governance increasingly extends beyond approving particular AI tools to governing the processes, decisions, data, and actions in which AI participates.

AI governance seeks to balance innovation and responsible use by creating clear boundaries and accountability while enabling individuals and organizations to benefit from AI.

See Topic Brief: Regulation/Policy in Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Learn & Work Ecosystem Library

A liberal arts degree is a bachelor’s degree earned in certain liberal arts majors in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and fine arts. A liberal arts degree does not typically focus on a career-specific curriculum as many other college majors do, such as computer science, marketing, engineering, and nursing. Growing employer interest in skills-based hiring is spurring higher education institutions to build into the liberal arts curricula digital and other skills that can help graduates compete for a first job. Applied liberal arts refers to approaches to integrating skills content into liberal arts degrees. Approaches include: 1) offering an Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree, often known as Applied Liberal Arts (ALA); 2) offering a Bachelor of Science in Applied Liberal Studies as a way of combining the liberal arts foundation with more specialized areas of interest; and 3) integrating skills content (e.g., digital badges, microcredentials) into majors in the liberal arts. The aim of these approaches is to ensure solid grounding in the liberal arts coupled with courses pertinent to the workplace such as project management, data visualization and analysis, design thinking, conflict resolution, public speaking, leadership, dialogue and intercultural exploration, health and wellness, social innovation, personal finance, and entrepreneurship. Skills such as these can be embedded into humanities, math, science, fine arts, and social sciences disciplines – and when this occurs, these are often referred to as applied liberal arts.

Alternative terms: Applied Liberal Studies, Liberal & Applied Studies

In research, provides evidence of the effectiveness of a program, intervention, or policy change on one or more desired outcomes. Well-designed studies will provide a credible simulation of the program, intervention, or policy change (“solution”) with an unbiased comparison group because it is not possible to observe the difference between outcomes for those receiving a solution, given concerns those outcomes would have happened had the same people not received this solution during the same timeframe.

An increasingly favored economic model in which resources minimize waste, pollution, and environmental impact using practices such as smarter product design, longer use, and recycling.  This model contrasts with the current linear economic model in which the system extracts raw materials from nature, turns them into products, and discards them as waste. Estimates are that only 7.2% of used materials are currently cycled back into economies after use. This contributes to growing concerns around climate, biodiversity, and pollution – and calls for a circular economic model. A circular economy will place new demands on the learn-and-work ecosystem, especially the preparation of a workforce with skills to design smarter products, longer use of products, and recycling.

The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) defines competitive integrated employment (CIE) as work performed on a full- or part-time basis for which an individual with disabilities is:

• Compensated at or above minimum wage and comparable to the customary rate paid by the employer to employees without disabilities performing similar duties and with similar training and experience.
• Receiving the same level of benefits provided to other employees without disabilities in similar positions.
• At a location where the employee interacts with other individuals without disabilities.
• Presented opportunities for advancement similar to other employees without disabilities in similar positions.

The Office of Employment Disability Policy (ODEP) operates the CIE Transformation Hub to collect resources across the federal government that are working to increase the participation of people with disabilities in CIE, such as:

• VOICE (Visionary Opportunities to Increase Competitive Employment)
• Veterans RICE (Returning to Integrated Competitive Employment)
• NEON (National Expansion of Employment Opportunities Network)
• ASPIRE (Advancing State Policy Integration for Recovery and Employment).

ODEP resources provide guidance, policy information, and evidence-based best practices used by people with disabilities and their families, employers, employment service providers, and state agencies. Since 2012, ODEP has provided technical assistance on aligning state policies across multiple service systems.

A degree is a title given by an institution (usually a college or university) that has been granted the authority by a state, recognized Native American tribe, or the federal government to confer such degrees. Generally, degrees are provided for accomplishment in academic, vocationally related, or religious studies, and the degree requirements differ within each of these three realms but are presumed to be comparable in accomplishment. A degree is granted by an institution to individuals who are presumed or who have been attested to have satisfactorily completed a course of study from which the individual can demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and ability commensurate with the degree requirements within the specific field of study. Degrees vary in the level of knowledge and skills that holders of the degree are presumed to have.

Refer to an essential combination of 21st century skills also commonly known as soft skills, human skills, or power skills. The term emphasizes the lasting value and universal applicability of these skills. They include problem-solving, leadership, critical thinking and personal skills like teamwork, cognitive flexibility, adaptability, collaboration, creativity, negotiation, initiative, risk-taking, cognitive flexibility.  Several research studies have demonstrated that durable skills are increasingly in demand by employers. 

Durable skills differ from hard skills in that hard skills are more often traditionally taught by colleges and universities, and easily measured and credentialed. By contrast, durable skills are seldom directly taught by higher education institutions and are more challenging to measure. 

Durable skills are recognized for their lifelong durability, while hard skills often become outdated or irrelevant over a lifetime, depending on the industry group in which employees are applying their technical skills. Durable skills are transferable and relevant in any job, cannot be easily displaced by technology, and are critical to creating positive work environments. 

Fake jobs refer to online listings for roles an employer does not intend to hire for. A Survey by Resume Builder found that as many as 4 in 10 companies (among 649 managers surveyed) indicate they have posted a “fake job listing” in 2024, and 3 in 10 companies are currently advertising for a role that is not real.  According to the survey, hiring managers are most likely to post fake openings for entry-level and mid-level roles.

Common reasons for posting fake jobs:

• Advertising nonexistent openings may have a positive impact on a company’s revenue by making it appear as if the company is growing faster than it is.
• The practice may increase employee morale by making over-extended staffers feel their workload will soon be alleviated.
• The practice may boost productivity by making employees feel las if they are replaceable and have to prove themselves against a potential newcomer.
• Hiring managers may keep fake listings up in order to collect resumes to keep on file for later.

Philanthropy and investment firms form funder collaboratives to increase their impact (also called “multiplier impacts”). By pooling resources, funder collaboratives can get more money into a space, rather than just being the sum of donations that would have otherwise gone to the same issue. Working together, funders are able to put larger amounts of money behind impactful ideas, take a wider view of an issue, and take bigger risks.

When a funder collaborative establishes an alliance to direct money into a space, it can also get other philanthropies to put new funding into the cause. By combining larger scale and risk-taking, some funder collaboratives have been able to introduce innovative, effective investment programs that governments and more traditional foundations would not think to support.

Funder collaboratives vary in their legal, financial, and operational structures but generally are structured as “pooled funds” or “co-granting.”

• Pooled funds are funder collaboratives where donors put their money into a shared pot, and then engage in internal processes to figure out where that funding should go.
• Co-granting is where donors do not have any formal commitments to provide funding but are engaged in the process of sourcing investments.

Examples:

• The END Fund was founded in 2012 by philanthropists and investment firms interested in ending neglected tropical diseases, such as trachoma and roundworms. The END Fund has 7,000 investors from 68 countries.
• Since 2019, Farming the Future (UK-based funder collaborative) has helped foundations invest in innovative food nonprofits and agricultural solutions. The collaborative focuses on making the industrial food system more sustainable.
• Blue Meridian Partners (BMP) is a funder collaborative whose platform allows philanthropists and funders to invest in social change together—in areas such as youth issues affecting all Americans, including health, education, and justice. BMP designs high-impact strategies worth tens of millions of dollars and then conducts “capital calls” of a pool of “general partners” to raise the required funds for the investment. Among its partners are multibillion-dollar endowments.

Refers to the projection of how work will get done in the future, often viewed over a ten-year timeline. “FOW” thinking typically incorporates the impact of technological advances, changing demography, increasing globalization, and market forces on the work we do and how we do it. Most FOW studies note the proliferation of low wage work, the digital divide, workforce shortages, and increased workforce transitions as likely characteristics of the work of the future, for which solutions will be needed.

Refers to an economy which balances environmental stability with economic growth. The focus is on environmentally friendly private and public investment, governmental policy/regulations, and socially responsible consumerism. Examples: Circular Economy (recycling, reusing, reducing waste); Conservation/Restoration (protect ecosystems, restore degraded lands, preserve biodiversity); Eco-Tourism (travel that supports local communities and protects natural habitats); Energy Efficiency (reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions); Environmental Policies (regulation/policy to incentivize sustainable practices, disincentivize harmful ones); Green Building (energy-efficient, environmentally friendly buildings); Green Finance (green bonds, sustainable funds, ethical banking); Public Transportation (public transportation systems that reduce reliance on private cars and decrease air pollution); Renewable Energy resources that are sustainable and have lower environmental impact (transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal power); Sustainable Agriculture (organic farming, crop rotation, and agroforestry to minimize chemical inputs, protect soil health, conserve biodiversity).

Also referred to as automatic admission or assured admission, this term refers to a policy in place at many state public institutions of higher education which provides a direct path into college for state residents who meet specific criteria.  Criteria can include having earned a high school diploma or GED, satisfying a set grade point average threshold or other academic achievement metric, and additional requirements unique to each state and institution.  These direct admission policies are intended to boost enrollment while encouraging residents to remain in-state for their continued education.  Students are still expected to submit applications and complete required documentation for the institution they wish to attend. 

Refers to the financial well-being of generations as well as the broader societal implications including race/ethnicity gaps, social and economic mobility, geographical disparities, and the well-being of future generations. Examining the conditions experienced by the generations within society typically include studying economic wealth, educational and employment opportunities, and outcomes across generations. Studies of Intergenerational Economic Mobility typically compare parents’ income and their children’s income in the next generation. Studies of Intergenerational Equity examine the fair distribution of economic, social, and environmental well-being among generations, with a focus on racial gaps in upward mobility. Studies of Geographical Disparities examine mobility impacts based on where children grow up in America.

Refers to individuals who come to the United States from other countries to pursue higher education at American colleges and universities. These students typically hold non-immigrant visas, such as F-1 visas for academic studies, and contribute to the cultural and intellectual diversity of U.S. campuses. International students comprise more than 5% of all students in higher education, and about 20% of students at the graduate level.  Enrollment of international students has decreased in recent years, in part as a result of federal administrative policy changes that make it more difficult for international students to come to the U.S.; and as universities in other nations attract more international students.

Related Term: Foreign Nationals, defined by ed.gov as “citizens of countries other than those in which they reside”

In European education, the term refers to setting an objective of a specific percentage of learners from particular age groups and from particular levels of education, having been engaged in learning mobilities during their studies.

A standalone website or single web page. These sites are typically used to promote a company’s products, services, campaigns, events, or brand. Microsites often have a different domain or subdomain from the company’s main website.

In postsecondary education, microsites are increasingly being used to house information (course offerings, payment, shopping cart experience, etc.) for specific audiences such as those seeking continuing studies and professional development offerings.

Example:  In Ontario, Canada, Western University’s Continuing Studies microsite houses non-credit and credit-bearing certificates and professional education offerings. The site recognizes that a distinct web experience designed to attract and engage customers seeking continuing studies programs and courses is needed—that customers for the microsite are different than visitors the main campus website is set up to serve.

Refers to a quantitative study that incorporates qualitative research methods in order to provide a richer understanding of a program’s implementation and effectiveness (e.g., interviews, focus groups, case studies, observations).

Refers to limited access to college majors. Restrictions typically occur when student demand exceeds the available resources to attract and pay for faculty and related infrastructure needs like classroom space and technology.  This practice often involves institutions imposing additional entry requirements, such as Grade Point Average (GPA) thresholds; minimum standardized test score; portfolios or auditions for performance-oriented majors; extra costs (tuition and/or fees); and waitlists. Students may be unaware when they are admitted to a higher education institution that there are additional hurdles to enter their chosen field of study’; admission to a college/university does not guarantee admission to an academic program (major).

A recent study found that restricting student access to certain programs of study is an increasingly common practice, and one that favors students who enter college with both social capital and a high school experience that includes rigorous classes and academic extracurriculars, compared to a highly capable student coming from a high school without college preparatory courses and other important resources. The study finds that the practice of restricting majors impacts and shapes student experiences:

• Restrictions on majors have a large impact on what students decide to study.
• Restrictions on majors impact some student populations more than others.
• The most common restrictions recent graduates experienced when selecting their field of study were academic performance thresholds; i.e., overall GPA, departmental GPA, and test score requirements.
• Most of the effect of restrictions happens upstream — discouraging students from applying for majors in which they are interested, rather than downstream — in the form of a rejected application (for every student who applies and is rejected, four more feel discouraged from applying at all).

Refers to the practice of some company managers offering flexible work to their own teams to retain talent, often going against company rules which have “return to work” mandates or employees will lose their job.

Alternative or related terms for this practice include:

• Quiet Flexibility – informal flexibility granted by managers without formal approval / sanction.
• Shadow Remote Work – used informally to describe when remote work continues unofficially despite formal policies.
• Policy Discretion – neutral HR term for how managers interpret and enforce (or not) workplace rules.
• Decentralized Compliance – organizational behavior–focused, referring to uneven enforcement of top-down mandates.
• Managerial Discretion – the authority individual managers may use to interpret or selectively enforce corporate policies, including return-to-office (RTO) mandates.
• Policy Drift – when the formal policy is not enforced as originally intended over time. 

Refers to organizations that conduct research, analysis, and advocacy on public policy issues, often with the goal of influencing decisions in government, industry, and education. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within a government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses, or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.

Within the learn-and-work ecosystem, think tanks play an influential role in shaping debates on workforce development, higher education reform, credentialing, and economic mobility.

Think tanks vary in ideological orientation, funding structures, and research rigor. Their credibility and impact are frequently assessed against established quality measures.  For example, a 2025 American Enterprise Institute (AEI) study, which asked leading AI models to evaluate think tanks, identified 12 dimensions that can also be used to evaluate think tanks by their:

• Institutional Character
  • Independence from Funders or Political Influence
  • Moral Integrity
  • Purity of Motive
• Public Engagement
  • Clarity and Accessibility of Communication
  • Ideological Diversity
  • Policy and Public Debate Influence
• Research Integrity
  • Accuracy and Reliability of Past Claims
  • Methodological Rigor
  • Objectivity
  • Research Quality
  • Staff Expertise
  • Transparency and Openness

Examples from the AEI study which evaluated nearly 30 think tanks:

• Brookings Institution — generally considered centrist or center-left, known for broad policy research.
• Heritage Foundation — generally recognized as conservative/right-leaning, with strong influence on U.S. policymaking.
• New America — typically described as center-left, focusing on innovation and equity in education, work, and technology.

Refers to legislation allowing all students in a state, regardless of immigration status, to access in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, and state financial aid at both public and private institutions. These laws recognize the pivotal role colleges and universities can play in advancing policy change locally, as well as implementing legislation to ensure the safety and support of DACA, undocumented, refugee, international, and other immigrant-origin students and staff. Nearly half the states in America have some kind of tuition equity law. A report by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration partnered with the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and the American Immigration Council (AIC) found that immigrant-origin students account for nearly one-third of all domestic students in U.S. higher education. The Higher Ed Immigration Portal offers comprehensive guides and resources at the federal and state levels.

Refers to individuals who reside in the United States without legal documentation or authorization. They may have entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas. Despite their undocumented status, many have been raised and educated in the U.S. during elementary and secondary school years, and often face significant barriers to accessing higher education and other opportunities. Undocumented students are estimated to comprise a small percentage of the total student population—some studies suggesting less than 1% (an estimated 400,000 students including DACA recipients enrolled in higher education.)

See: DACA

University investment taxes primarily pertain to the taxation of endowment income for certain private nonprofit colleges and universities. These taxes were introduced as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and designed to target institutions with significant endowment assets.

Endowments are typically used to supplement tuition and fees; support research, public service, and other institutional activities; and provide a financial cushion against cyclical pressures and revenue disruptions.

Unlike university endowments, private foundations are also subject to an excise tax on their net investment income, but the rate is generally 2%. Private foundations are funded by a single or small group of donors, whereas university endowments accrue from multiple sources over time.

The 2017 TCJA imposed a 1.4% excise tax on the net investment income of certain private nonprofit colleges and universities. This tax applies to institutions that:

• Enroll at least 500 students.
• Have endowment assets exceeding $500,000 per student.
• The $500,000 threshold is not indexed for inflation, meaning it remains static over time.

In 2022, this tax raised $244 million from 58 institutions. These institutions represent a small subset of the approximately 1,600 private nonprofit and 700 public four-year institutions in the U.S.

While U.S. higher education institutions collectively hold over $500 billion in endowment wealth, approximately 23 institutions hold 50% of these assets. This concentration of wealth has made these institutions the primary targets of the tax.

2025 Update: Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, universities with large endowments face a higher tax on their investment income. The new law applies to private non-profit institutions of higher education that enroll at least 3,000 students—up from the previous threshold of 500 students. It sets new tax rates on net investment income at three different tiers:

• Endowments between $500,000 and $750,000 in assets per student will be taxed at the current rate of 1.4 percent.
• Endowments between $750,001 and $2 million per student will be taxed at a rate of4 percent.
• Endowments above $2 million per student will be taxed at a rate of 8 percent. This falls in between private foundations, which pay 1.39 percent, and corporations, which pay 21 percent.

The tax on endowment income has sparked debates about equity and the role of wealth in higher education. Critics argue that the tax disproportionately affects institutions with large endowments, while proponents see it as a way to ensure these institutions contribute to public revenue.

In a research study, refers to the extent to which the study accurately measures what it claims to measure. Validity refers to both the accuracy of the entire study as well as each step of the study. There are four types of validity:

• Statistical conclusion validity asks if a finding is accurate. Is there adequate power, sample size? Are assumptions of statistical tests violated? Are measures reliable?
• Construct validity asks how well the inferences made about higher level constructs represented in the study match (1) what was implemented and (2) what was measured as an outcome.
• External validity asks whether a cause-effect relationship holds under variations in people, settings, treatment variables, and measurement variables.
• Internal validity asks whether changes in the treatment condition impact changes in the outcome. Did something other than the treatment explain variation(s) in the measured outcome?

Woke has evolved to mean awareness of discrimination and progressive social and political ideas that promote diversity, inclusion, and liberal values.

Anti-woke refers to a movement that opposes progressive social and political ideas, especially those that promote diversity, inclusion, and liberal values.  Proponents of the anti-woke movement claim that learning about or seeing marginalized groups will negatively impact society.

In the United States, changing public and political views regarding diversity-focused initiatives have increasingly influenced higher education policy. Several states have enacted legislation or governing-board policies that revise how public colleges and universities may address topics related to race, identity, inclusion programs, and campus activism. These actions include restrictions on funding for diversity-related offices or programming, limits on certain classroom content or training activities, revised general education curricula, and new regulations governing student protests and guest speakers.

At the same time, some states have promoted new academic units emphasizing civic education, Western intellectual traditions, or classical curricula. These developments reflect broader debates about the role of public universities, academic freedom, institutional governance, and the balance between state oversight and campus autonomy. Because public higher education systems are shaped by state law and governing boards, policy changes in one state can influence approaches adopted in others.