WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will sign around a half-dozen executive actions aimed at overhauling higher education, expanding the administration’s efforts to put its imprint on colleges and universities across the U.S.

One order directs the education secretary to review higher education accreditation services that certify the validity of schools and programs to employers and loan providers. The administration warned that commissions that accreditate schools that fail to meet certain standards could result in the accreditors themselves being stripped of their authority. Details on the order were shared by a senior White House official on condition of anonymity before it is made public.

Another order would threaten to cut off funding for higher education institutions that do not disclose sources of foreign money, according to a report from Politico. A third directive is focused on improving job training for skilled trades, according to Reuters.

Wednesday’s moves are the latest step by the administration to target higher education, including demands that schools accept conditions that would change many of their policies in what Trump officials have cast as a bid to address anti-Semitism on campuses. Some schools have resisted that effort, claiming the demands made by the administration are unconstitutional and would undercut their academic missions.

Harvard University is suing the Trump administration after officials froze billions of dollars in federal funding. Trump has also called for the school to lose its tax-exempt status after the school rejected the administration’s demands.

The accreditation order mandates that the Education secretary resume recognizing new accreditors to foster competition in the sector; direct institutions to use program-level student outcome data to improve results, without reference to race, ethnicity or sex; require high-quality, high-value academic programs; and prioritize intellectual diversity among faculty.

The mandate also opens the door to making it easier to recognize new accreditors and for schools and programs to switch between accreditation providers. The order was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

With the order, Trump is following through on a campaign pledge to target the university accreditation system, part of a broad effort by his administration to address what conservatives cast as academic institutions focused on promoting liberal ideologies.

In a campaign video, Trump called the college accreditation system “our secret weapon.”

“When I return to the White House, I will fire the radical Left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics,” Trump said. “We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once and for all.”

Most universities are accredited by a regional body, a process widely used throughout the country to certify the quality of higher education.

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