Major Initiatives

Three subscription/membership-based programs provide specialized research, opportunities for professional collaboration, and forums for influencing policy:

• The Advanced Core Technologies Initiative (ACTI) enables members who are tackling technological progress in core technologies to network and collaborate with each other and those who are contemplating similar progress.
• The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) promotes informed decision-making and a culture of evidence in higher education IT through a program of research publications and symposia.
• The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) is a community of institutions, organizations, and corporations committed to advancing learning through IT innovation. ELI achieves this mission through a strategic focus on learners, learning principles and practices, and learning technologies.

These programs, services, and partnerships constitute areas of emphasis and focus within EDUCAUSE:

• .edu Administration covers policies and processes for managing the .edu Internet domain, which EDUCAUSE administers under contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• EDUCAUSE Policy looks beyond issues of pure technology to the connections between society’s expectations of higher education, college and university missions, IT choices and activities, and the policies that impact them. These connections enable EDUCAUSE to engage with policymakers, advocate on behalf of higher education, and assist with understanding legislative decisions affecting our community. The Cybersecurity Initiative, led by The Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC) and established by EDUCAUSE and Internet2, is part of EDUCAUSE Policy and works to improve information security and privacy programs across the higher education sector through its community members and focused partnerships with government, industry, and other academic organizations.
• EDUCAUSE Research includes the Core Data Service (CDS), higher education's trusted source for comprehensive IT benchmarking data; the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR), a program which promotes informed decision-making and a culture of evidence in higher education IT with research publications and symposia; and the  IT Issues Panel, a panel representing EDUCAUSE member institutions which provides quick feedback to EDUCAUSE on current issues, problems, and proposals across higher education IT.
• Next Generation Learning Challenges is a collaborative, multi-year initiative aimed at identifying, improving, and scaling IT solutions that can deepen, accelerate, and support learning to improve college readiness and completion. NGLC provides grants, gathers evidence about effective practices, and maintains a community committed to addressing these persistent educational challenges.