International
Government sets the stage for higher tuition fees | The Kenyan government has ruled out any future increase in funding to universities, setting the stage for a sharp rise in student fees. The country’s Cabinet Secretary for Education Amina Mohamed said the government can no longer afford to increase funding to state universities and institutions, which should come up with long-term plans for bridge financing.
Most countries failing to tackle unequal access to HE | Participation in higher education around the world continues to be unequal from a social background perspective, with a large number of countries paying only ‘lip service’ to the equity agenda, says a barometer report released to mark the first World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) on 28 November 2018.
How Africa can provide the leadership the world needs | [T]he early knowledge decolonisation projects hosted at various African knowledge production centres of excellence, such as the Ibadan School of History, the Dakar School of Culture and the Dar es Salaam School of Political Economy have actively sought to enable delinking and an epistemic break with the ancien regime. However, these have not been sustained, as liberation leaders were replaced by – or themselves became – military rulers and despots during Africa’s lost decades (circa 1967–97). Thus, so much unfinished work lies ahead. But where does this commence?
Private universities facing major financial crisis, need help | Private higher education is largely overlooked in the current debate on reform of higher education in Malaysia. Nonetheless, private higher education institutions (HEIs) account for almost half of the student and academic populations and absorb large amounts of government subsidised loans through the PTPTN loan system.
Soros-backed university in Hungary moves programs to Vienna | CEU’s ouster is part of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ideological battle against Hungarian-American philanthropist and CEU founder George Soros and his “open society” model. It is also part of a wider crackdown on academic freedom, including tighter budgetary and research controls over Hungarian universities and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
U.S. National
What public universities must do to regain public support | Universities have lost public support in recent years. In order to get it back, college presidents should worry less about how their institutions fare in college rankings and focus more on affordability, great teaching and doing research that matters most to the communities they serve.
Outstanding student loan debt hits nearly $1.5 trillion: report | Outstanding student loan debt increased by $37 billion in the third quarter and stood at $1.44 trillion as of September, according to a report from Bloomberg. The report cites newly released data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
U.S. States
Can W.Va. attain a higher standard of living through higher education? | Certainly, a discussion on higher education’s structure, educational outcomes and our state’s colleges and universities must include the goals of supporting job creation and providing a skilled workforce. Also, it’s difficult to address the complete structure of higher education in West Virginia without including four-year public and private institutions, as well as community and technical colleges, including advanced technical centers.
Job-Finding and College Enrollment in North Carolina’s Tight Labor Market | North Carolina’s labor market has tightened substantially following the Great Recession as our economy has expanded and employers have ramped up hiring. We estimate that there were only 2.5 jobseekers per job opening in our state in 2017, compared to 10.3 in 2009. Jobseekers tend to land jobs faster when the labor market is tight, since they are contending against relatively fewer other applicants for a given position.
A new model of higher ed in Lane County | Students who attend Lane Community College will soon have new opportunities to earn a four-year degree and more, thanks to promising new agreements forged by their school with Northwest Christian University and Oregon State University.
Report: Performance Funding Has Unintended Consequences | The report laid out how performance funding works. The idea is to structure a formula that allocates state funding to public institutions based on their student outcomes. This contrasts with a traditional model in which schools are funded based on the number of students they enroll. The idea behind this outcomes-based approach, Li wrote, is to push colleges to “earn funds by graduating, not simply enrolling, students.”
Paying for college in Colorado is tough, new analysis shows | The analysis — conducted by the Lumina Foundation, a private foundation with the goal of expanding access to higher education, and Young Invincibles, a policy research and advocacy organization — applied the net prices of Colorado’s institutions (cost of attendance minus grant aid) to the Rule of 10 to determine affordability for different groups of students.
Institutional
Does ‘High-Impact’ Teaching Cause High-Impact Fatigue? | High-impact practices can be exhausting. They are labor intensive — for students, yes, but especially for faculty members. Designing and managing these efforts can be all-consuming and energy-draining. You may need a manageable case of obsessive-compulsive disorder just to survive the experience.
Chapel Hill Finally Has a Plan for Its Confederate Monument. Professors Lament the Price Tag. | The chancellor, Carol L. Folt, and her Board of Trustees recommended that Silent Sam be installed in a yet-to-be-built center on history and education. The cost of the new center would be $5.3 million with $800,000 a year in operating expenses. The building, which would be completed by 2022, would feature “state-of-the-art security measures, as well as the development of excellent exhibits and teaching materials,” according to a 10-page document explaining the plan.
UofL Plans New Diversity Initiatives After Campus Climate Survey | Administrators at the University of Louisville (UofL), following a period of leadership turmoil, are increasing diversity efforts in response to a campus climate survey that revealed faculty and staff concerns about inclusion and equity. The Campus Climate and Diversity Survey for Faculty and Staff, conducted in fall 2017, was the latest biennial poll to measure various aspects of employees’ perceptions about the university.
Why Teaching Engineering Costs More Than Teaching English | A working paper released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research states that teaching costs at higher ed institutions across the country varied widely across academic fields and were generally higher in fields where graduates earn more money.
An Anti-Union (Liberal) College? | At Grinnell College, an unexpected and contentious fight has emerged between administrators of a proudly progressive institution and the country’s only independent union of undergraduate student workers. The case at Grinnell could have lasting implications, as officials plan to appeal an expansion of the union to a federal board — its decision could affect whether other, similar units would be allowed to take shape.