News Items from the Week of Dec. 18, 2015

International

Andreas Schleicher: ‘we will live through time’ when universities are judged on graduate learning | Universities around the world will one day be compared on what their graduates learn and will “compete for superior approaches to teaching”, just as schools do thanks to the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests.

The Speed of Social Media: A Boon to Student Protesters | Not that many years ago, news did not travel fast. I am old enough to have lived in a time when using the telephone to make long distance calls was a big deal.

College Campuses Are The New Test Facilities For Emerging Technology | Housing superior research and development facilities, a plethora of advisory resources and brilliant thinkers, higher-ed institutions are natural hubs for creating next-gen systems.

Scottish government cuts higher education budget by 3 per cent | Scotland’s universities will have their budgets cut by around 3 per cent next year, but they have described this as a “good outcome”.

U.S. National

What Scalia’s controversial remarks about African Americans expose about U.S. higher education | There is a story that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is inadvertently exposing: the negligence of higher education to teach the students who walk the halls and sit in the classrooms after being admitted.

Being a Globally Oriented College | What does it mean to be a globally oriented college? Are some international experiences better than others? Are colleges doing enough to integrate international students on their own campuses? And what steps can we take to improve global education for college students?

Academe Must Confront Its Racist Past | Much of what I’ve learned about the intersection of American and African-American history, I’ve learned as an extracurricular activity.

Downward Spiral on Enrollments | The several-year decline in enrollment in American colleges and universities continued and arguably intensified this fall, driven by sharp dips in numbers of students at for-profit colleges, full-time students at community colleges and students aged 24 or more, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse.

The rich-poor divide on America’s college campuses is getting wider, fast | Rich, poor take paths even more dramatically divergent than in the past, new data show.

U.S. States

Higher ed continues to struggle without state funds | As Illinois makes its way through the sixth month of the fiscal year without a budget, state universities continue to look for ways to keep the bills paid.

In higher education plan, McAuliffe calls for study of new way to investigate sexual violence on campus | Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s upcoming budget proposal will include tens of millions of dollars to expand access to higher education, relieve pressure on tuition rates and bolster workforce development through Virginia’s community colleges.

Study: Higher education is key to Michigan’s future but comes with $500M annual price tag | Michigan needs an additional 779,000 students to earn an education or training credential beyond high school by 2025 to meet the needs of employers and place Michigan among the nation’s 10 best educated states, according to a report issued by a coalition of business, education, labor and government leaders.

Universities Under Pressure To Rein In Costs, Tie Funding To Outcomes | [Kentucky] Gov. Bevin says state universities are making a good faith effort to implement some outcomes-based funding, but the proposals don’t go far enough.

California’s Community Colleges Can’t Live With Accreditor, Can’t Live Without It | A handful of California’s community colleges may have a problem offering new bachelor’s-degree programs, as planned, by 2017.

Institutional

Ithaca College Faculty Votes No Confidence in Embattled President | Faculty members at Ithaca College have voted no confidence in the New York institution’s president, Thomas R. Rochon, the Faculty Council announced on Monday.

Two Steps Back? | New England accreditor says it’s trying to update its standards, but many adjunct activists fear changes would undercut efforts to protect those off the tenure track.

Social Media Will Broadcast the 2015 ‘Revolution’ | In the 1970s Gil Scott-Herron decreed that the revolution will not be televised; however, students in 2015 have taken up a revolutionary insurgence vis-a-vis multiple forms of “social” media.

Campus Protesters Across The Country Swap Ideas, Information | While student movements differ from school to school, organizers are sharing their tactics across the country.

Glasper Moves Forward with League of Innovations | Rufus Glasper, who has been a part of the Maricopa Community Colleges community for nearly 30 years, announced that he would retire on December 2. He currently serves as chancellor, a position he has held for the past 13 years.