About Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed is an American online publication covering news, opinion, resources, events, and jobs in the higher education sphere. Founded in 2004 and based in Washington, D.C., it is one of the two leading daily news sources for college and university faculty, administrators, and policymakers, alongside its older rival, the Chronicle of Higher Education. The publication also produces a weekly podcast, "The Key with Inside Higher Ed." In 2022 it was acquired by Times Higher Education, the British publisher of the World University Rankings. Its official website is insidehighered.com.

Founding

Inside Higher Ed was founded in 2004 by Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman, two former editors of the Chronicle of Higher Education, along with Kathlene Collins, formerly a business manager for the Chronicle. The founders saw an opening for a digital-native publication that could cover higher education with greater speed, accessibility, and breadth of voices than the print-rooted legacy publications. They launched the site with modest investment from three Washington-area venture capital funds.

The Founders' Vision

Jaschik and Lederman had spent their careers at the Chronicle of Higher Education, and they believed there were important aspects of higher education that were not being covered and voices going unheard. Their pitch was that a new journalistic venture could carve out space alongside a legacy publication by being faster, more conversational, and more open to contributors from across the academic world. According to the founders, the site was built on values of relevance, authority, accessibility, and community — aiming to make the best news and information about higher education available to everyone, much of it free, rather than locked behind expensive subscriptions.

Early Growth, Business Model, and Career Services

Inside Higher Ed grew steadily in its first decade, building a business on a combination of advertising, sponsored content, events, and a comprehensive suite of job services for academic employers. Job seekers can use virtually all of the site's career services without charge, while employers pay for job postings and recruiting products, making the site one of the primary hiring marketplaces for American colleges and universities. The site also developed a membership program offering additional resources at what it describes as a relatively modest fee. Its newsletter readership became one of the most engaged audiences in the higher education media space. Beyond its journalism, the publication operates a significant events business: its conferences and webinars bring together administrators, faculty, and policy experts to discuss issues ranging from enrollment management to academic technology, while its job board and recruitment products connect institutions with candidates. These services, along with advertising and sponsored content, form the commercial foundation that supports the newsroom's editorial operations.

Quad Partners Investment

In 2015, Quad Partners, a New York private equity firm, acquired a controlling interest in the publication, buying out the venture capital firms that had been the original outside investors. The founders, Jaschik and Lederman, did not sell their own interests. The deal drew scrutiny because Quad Partners also invested in for-profit colleges, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest. Lederman said the purchase agreement included a clause precluding Quad Partners from any involvement in editorial operations, and noted that the earlier venture investors had likewise had no role in editorial decisions.

Acquisition by Times Higher Education

In 2022, Quad Partners sold Inside Higher Ed to Times Higher Education (THE), the London-based publisher best known for the World University Rankings, which it has published since 2004, and which is itself owned by Inflexion Private Equity. The acquisition was announced in January 2022 for an undisclosed amount. Jaschik said the two publications had often collaborated and that the new chapter would allow them to inform the world about higher education more effectively. THE CEO Paul Howarth said the company looked forward to working with Jaschik, Lederman, Inside Higher Ed CEO Dari Gessner, and the wider team to support universities and colleges in the United States and around the world. Inside Higher Ed continued to operate independently under its existing brand, keeping its signature orange color and its editorial independence.

Coverage and Editorial Scope

Inside Higher Ed publishes daily news on college admissions, academic labor, governance, finance, student affairs, diversity, research policy, and federal regulation of higher education. It is known for its quick, conversational reporting style, its opinion columns and blogs by academics, and its willingness to give voice to faculty and staff at institutions that rarely make national headlines. The site's reporting has frequently set the agenda for national conversations about tenure, academic freedom, college costs, and the business model of universities. Its journalists cover community colleges and regional public universities with the same seriousness as elite institutions, and its opinion pages host debates on pedagogy, shared governance, and the future of the faculty role that draw responses from across the academy.

The Key Podcast

The publication produces a weekly podcast, "The Key with Inside Higher Ed," featuring interviews and discussions with college presidents, researchers, and policy experts about the pressing issues facing higher education. The podcast extends the site's reach to audiences who prefer audio and has become a regular fixture in the higher education media landscape, with episodes covering enrollment strategy, academic innovation, and the economics of colleges and universities.

Readership and Influence

As of 2020, the Inside Higher Ed website attracted millions of monthly visitors, in addition to a large base of newsletter subscribers. It is read by college presidents, provosts, faculty members, student-affairs professionals, trustees, and journalists, and its stories are routinely cited by national media outlets covering education. The publication's reporting on for-profit colleges, accreditation, and campus controversies has shaped policy debates at both the state and federal levels. When major higher education stories break — from admissions scandals to federal regulatory changes — Inside Higher Ed's fast, knowledgeable reporting is often the first comprehensive account that administrators and faculty turn to.

Founder Transitions

After two decades at the helm, the founding generation stepped back. Scott Jaschik departed in July 2023, and Doug Lederman announced in 2024 that he was stepping away from the publication after 20 years, leaving it in the hands of the next generation of leadership. Both departures were marked by tributes from across the academic world to the founders' role in creating a publication that gave voice to constituencies that had previously been unheard in higher education journalism.

Editorial Independence and Values

Throughout its changes in ownership, Inside Higher Ed has emphasized the independence of its journalism. The founders sought editorial protections in both the 2015 Quad Partners deal and the 2022 Times Higher Education acquisition, and the publication's own history page stresses that its journalism remains independent. The site describes its core values as relevance, authority, accessibility, and community: publishing news that matters to the daily work of higher education professionals, maintaining high editorial standards, keeping most content free so that cost is not a barrier, and inviting readers to participate through letters, tips, and contributed columns. The humor columns and freewheeling blogs that run alongside its breaking news reflect the founders' belief that authoritative information does not have to be bland.

Official Website

Inside Higher Ed's official website is insidehighered.com, where readers can find its daily news coverage, opinion pieces, career services, and podcasts on higher education.