Even as debate continues about how problems of rising costs and unsatisfactory graduation rates, innovative web-based approaches to higher education are being piloted around the state and being embraced by students and, yes, even some faculty and administrators. 

One day before a key University of Texas Board of Regents meeting, conservative groups called for increased transparency in higher education and the end of faculty tenure and "frivolous" research projects.

In the wake of well-documented budget woes, the state Legislature took a more than 9 percent chunk out of higher education in the recent session. Some institutions have now raised tuition, and others may soon do the same.

When Rick O'Donnell, a controversial former adviser to the University of Texas System, released an analysis of faculty data from University of Texas and Texas A&M, he anticipated that it might receive criticism. He was right.

In recent months, the various forces in Gov. Rick Perry’s conflicted higher ed history have come to a head. The result: an overwrought public identity crisis in the higher education community, the resolution of which could define the governor’s legacy on the topic.

Randy Diehl, the dean of the University at Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, has released a response to the so-called "seven breakthrough solutions" for higher education, calling them "the wrong approach.”

The University of Texas System has released an updated set of faculty productivity data. "The System has been working diligently to review and verify the data and most of the data in the file are complete," a spokesman said.

Your afternoon reading: Sanctuary cities bill isn't dead; UT System and former adviser Rick O'Donnell reach settlement; House passes health reform bill; George Will says Rick Perry is a "potentially potent candidate"; debating how much credit Perry deserves for jobs creation; TSA removes 95-year-old woman's diaper

With multiple third-party organizations cropping up, along with a new Legislature-created oversight committee, expect a protracted debate about how best to tackle the state's higher ed problems. 

Only 16 percent of Latino adults have an associate's degree or higher — compared to 33 percent of the total working-aged population in Texas. The national average is 38 percent.

We have a special update to the Tribune's government employee salary database, adding recently acquired salary data from the last six agencies missing from the the University of Texas System, Texas Woman's University and the Sabine River Authority.

A powerful group of individuals — including former regents, former university system chancellors and former university presidents — from around Texas have joined together to address the state's ongoing higher education controversy.

Of the new University of Texas System regents, none has received more scrutiny than Alex Cranberg. After months of controversy, he said the time has come to “push a reset button” on the relationship between the regents and the leadership at UT.

The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting.

UT President Bill Powers and Regents Chairman Gene Powell slammed a controversial study that found that if some UT-Austin professors were more productive, tuition could be cut by as much as half. 

As the debate over the future of Texas’ higher education continues to swirl, it's increasingly intertwined in old political rivalries and long-held grudges and resentments.

After a public display of harmony last week, controversy continues to surround UT System Board of Regents. Does a request made by regent Alex Cranberg amount to the kind of micromanaging criticized by the system's chancellor? Cranberg insists it is no such thing.

At the end of a turbulent week in Texas higher education, the circumstances of the chancellors of the state’s two largest university systems stand in stark contrast.