News Items from the Week of August 10, 2018

International

Cover | Outsourcing Student Success (Kindle Edition)
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Higher Education Crisis in Taiwan | According to the Ministry of Education, higher education enrollment is expected to decrease from 273,000 in 2015 to 158,000 by 2028. This decrease will have a huge impact on the higher education system, with 20 to 40 universities estimated to be in danger of disappearing within five years, especially small and private universities in the suburbs.

What India can learn from China’s rise in higher education | In the list of top 500 educational institutes in the world compiled by the UK-based agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), many more universities from China find a place compared with those from India. As per the latest rankings, 22 Chinese universities found a place in the top 500 list as compared to 9 from India.

Entrepreneur Strives to Enable, Not Disrupt, Higher Ed | Paul Freedman is widely viewed as one of the more inventive and thoughtful people on the education-technology scene. Some rank-and-file college faculty and staff members may see that as damning him with faint praise, all the more so if they remember him as the founder of Altius Education, which helped create an alternative two-year college that was effectively shut down in 2013 by the Midwestern regional accreditor.

U.S. National

‘Making Education Work for the Poor’ | In their new book, Making Education Work for the Poor (Oxford University Press), authors William Elliott and Melinda Lewis examine the potential of children’s savings accounts as a new tool to level the playing field.

Study: Student Loan Debt for Millennials Becoming More Manageable | While student loan debt is still a big challenge for millennials, there is evidence that it is becoming more manageable thanks in large part to an improving economy, expanding job market and rising incomes for the demographic group.

The U.S. Needs to Get Smart About College Outcomes | Americans with bachelor’s degrees stand to make $1 million more in their careers than those with just high school diplomas. Meanwhile, the sticker prices of colleges and loan-default rates have soared, and only 60 percent of enrollees earn a degree within six years.

U.S. States

College Readiness Courses and Work-Force Development | In the Recovery 2020 report, Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce projects that by 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require some form of postsecondary education. However, this may be a conservative estimate, according to the center, considering that of the 11.6 million jobs created in the 2010 to 2016 recovery, 11.5 million of them, or 99 percent, were filled by workers with postsecondary training.

Institutional

Recent Graduates Lack Soft Skills, New Study Reports | The just-released 2018 Bloomberg Next study sponsored by Workday – “Building Tomorrow’s Talent: Collaboration Can Close Emerging Skills Gap” – included responses from 200 senior-level individuals from both academia and business.

Dark cloud looming over St. Augustine’s as school year approaches | The future of a local university will be decided this year. Saint Augustine’s University is currently on probation and is working to keep its accreditation.

How One Email From You Could Help Students Succeed | Cohen’s email is an example of a classroom-based “nudge,” or intervention that encourages, but does not mandate, a certain behavior. Nudges have caught on as a way to help students through the many complex processes of higher education.