Student persistence and academic performance are central indicators of student success in higher education, yet they are often modeled using similar analytic assumptions despite reflecting distinct underlying processes. Guided by theories of student engagement and persistence, this study examines whether student persistence intention and college grade point average (GPA) differ in their structural complexity and whether analytic approaches of varying complexity offer differential explanatory value. Using data from 23,215 students in the 2024 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) in the United States, we compare pre-specified additive regression models, regularized regression models, and algorithmically flexible tree-based models to predict persistence intention (self-reported likelihood of reenrollment) and GPA using the same theory-aligned predictors. Results show that regression-based approaches performed as well as algorithmically flexible models for persistence intention and better than them for GPA, and that no model exceeded the majority-class baseline in classification accuracy for persistence intention. Theory-informed interaction terms suggested by the tree-based models did not improve fit or prediction when specified directly within regression, and a multiple-imputation sensitivity analysis indicated that substantive estimates were robust to the missing data produced by listwise deletion. These findings indicate that analytic complexity offered no predictive gains for either outcome, and that apparent context-dependent relationships require explicit specification and testing rather than being inferred from algorithmic flexibility alone. By comparing analytic approaches across two theoretically distinct outcomes, this study highlights the importance of aligning methodological choices with outcome structure and contributes to theory-informed research on student success in community colleges.
The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has compelled many higher education institutions (HEIs) to implement strategies that promote the use of AI-enhanced technologies in online learning environments to serve the needs of all students. However, there remains limited research on how online leaders examine the transformational impact of AI integration in online learning in higher education. Therefore, the study explored the perspectives of online leaders on the transformational impact of AI regarding how these leaders lead and manage online programs in the era of AI-driven online learning. It also examined challenges online leaders face in leading and managing online programs in the era of AI. Grounded in a transformational leadership theory through semi-structured interviews of 60 online learning leaders (vice provost of online learning) from 52 public and eight (8) private universities in the United States. Data analysis revealed the following themes: leadership initiatives on AI policy, guidance, and governance; leadership efforts: providing AI resources; AI as a transformational agent in administration, teaching, and learning (AI is changing online teaching and learning, Reimagining the potential of the Learning Management System (LMS); and challenges. The paper discusses the role of online leaders in navigating AI as well as guiding and managing the impact of AI on online teaching and learning.
This article complements previous efforts to understand contemporary challenges to academic freedom by conducting a content analysis of 416 online petitions (e-petitions) started between 2014 and 2024 that demand or oppose sanctions/termination for professors at American universities. It asks what their justifications reveal about challenges to academic freedom. The main finding is that while progressive and non-progressive e-petitions present specific challenges to academic freedom, a deeper, more enduring threat comes from two assumptions that many progressive and non-progressive e-petitioners appear to share: the alternate priorities assumption that certain priorities should be balanced against or override academic freedom and the orthodox university assumption that the proper role of universities, as institutions, is to decide the truth about controversial factual and moral issues and actively transfer it to their students. Another important finding is that the e-petitions suggest low levels of knowledge, understanding, and commitment regarding academic freedom, especially the role of extramural utterances. Based on these findings, the article recommends that universities adopt an educative approach that will directly contest the problematic assumptions by increasing levels of knowledge about academic freedom and its role in the truth-seeking university. The article also provides illustrative examples of what such an approach might involve. International readers are encouraged to consider the extent to which the problematic assumptions are at play in their contexts, as well as whether their definitions of academic freedom should be expanded to include extramural utterances.
The internationalization of higher education has evolved from mobility-centered strategies toward more complex frameworks that integrate intercultural, pedagogical, and ethical dimensions. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of 1,790 scientific publications indexed in Scopus between 1972 and 2025 to map the evolution, thematic density, and emerging paradigms of the field. The analysis examines research production and new trends in higher education internationalization to identify influential concepts, nodes, and clusters shaping contemporary debates. Results reveal an exponential increase in scientific production since the 2000s, accompanied by a shift from descriptive approaches—focused on cooperation and mobility—to multidimensional perspectives emphasizing intercultural competence, internationalization of the curriculum, global citizenship, sustainability, and educational innovation. Nine thematic clusters were identified, spanning areas such as governance and policy, pedagogical transformation, linguistic diversity, social justice, strategic management, and transnational education. Intercultural competence and global citizenship emerged as cross-cutting hinge nodes linking most clusters, reflecting a growing orientation toward learner-centered and socially responsible internationalization. The findings demonstrate that higher education internationalization is transitioning toward a post-hegemonic paradigm that incorporates decolonial, inclusive, and linguistically diverse approaches. This study contributes to an updated cartography of the field and highlights the need for institutional models that articulate strategic, pedagogical, and ethical dimensions in an integrated manner. Implications point toward a redefinition of internationalization as a relational ecosystem focused not only on mobility and competitiveness, but on transformative learning, epistemic equity, and global social responsibility.
