diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yaml b/.github/workflows/test.yaml
index c278a58f7..4d079539c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yaml
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Configure MKL
         if: ${{ matrix.matrix-backend == 'mkl' }}
         run: |
-          python -um pip install --upgrade --upgrade-strategy eager 'mkl<2024'
+          python -um pip install --upgrade --upgrade-strategy eager mkl
           python -um devtools.gha.configure_mkl
       - name: Test
         run: python -um coverage run -m unittest discover -b -q -t . -s tests
diff --git a/nutils/__init__.py b/nutils/__init__.py
index 2e31aced4..4d8205e5f 100644
--- a/nutils/__init__.py
+++ b/nutils/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 'Numerical Utilities for Finite Element Analysis'
 
-__version__ = version = '9a25'
+__version__ = version = '9a26'
 version_name = 'jook-sing'
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e767c443d..ab7a4ed35 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ classifiers = [
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 docs = ["Sphinx >=1.8,<8"]
 export_mpl = ["matplotlib >=3.3,<4"]
-matrix_mkl = ["mkl <2024"]
+matrix_mkl = ["mkl"]
 matrix_scipy = ["scipy >=0.13,<2"]
 import_gmsh = ["meshio >=4,<6"]