International
Meeting basic needs – A first step to student success | While research shows that funded students have a better success rate because their basic needs are more likely to be met, they still need a range of other support mechanisms and structures to ensure they achieve their potential at South African universities. Student analytics – which provides a clearer picture of student needs – can help.
The higher education landscape is changing fast | Although there are signs that enrolments in higher education around the globe are slowing down (in part influenced by a declining youth population and lower fertility rates), it is estimated that the number of enrolments will rise from 214.1 million in 2015 to 594.1 million by 2040.
A system of rank inequalities | Judged by international standards, the quality of higher education in India, a few shining exceptions apart, has been unsatisfactory. Recent developments, fortunately, are showing rays of hope.
Australian universities design their own performance funding test | Performance-related funding in Australia should be based around universities’ records on student retention, satisfaction, graduate employment and widening access, according to a group of institutions that have emphasised the importance of benchmarking in such a system.
THE Europe Teaching Rankings 2018: methodology | The Times Higher Education Europe Teaching Rankings use a balanced scorecard approach, with 13 individual performance indicators combined to create an overall score that reflects the broad strength of an institution.
U.S. National
New Higher Education Campaign Launches to Highlight Changing Experiences of Today’s Students through Their Stories | Today, Higher Learning Advocates, a national bipartisan advocacy organization working to modernize higher education policy, announced the launch of Voices of Today’s Students, a new campaign aimed at elevating videos and other short stories highlighting the various pathways that today’s students take through higher education.
U.S. States
Ohio partners with Western Governors University to offer online university | The state of Ohio and nonprofit, Salt Lake City-based Western Governors University have teamed up to establish WGU Ohio, an online, competency-based university with offices in Columbus.
Institutional
Hispanic college-degree attainment must increase to drive economy, Crow says | The United States will never reclaim its position as the world’s top economic superpower unless more Hispanic people earn college degrees, according to Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University.
Data Informs Decisions in Community College’s Promise Program Expansion | On the heels of a new progress report on its Promise Program, the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) is expanding the student success program to all first-time, full-time California high school graduates enrolling at the district’s colleges this coming fall.
First-Generation College Students More Engaged Than Peers | New research from Campus Labs, a higher education data collection and software company, examined the noncognitive skills of first-generation students and compared them to their multigenerational peers, finding that first-generation students are more engaged and committed to their education.
Black Students, College Choice and HBCUs: Enrolling the Next Generation | In 2017, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) saw an increase in freshman student enrollment and substantial increases in enrollment for a small number of HBCUs, including North Carolina A & T State University, Kentucky State University and Spelman College. Anecdotal information alludes to the racial tensions in the United States, the current political climate under the Trump administration, along with the increased visibility of HBCUs as safe spaces for Black students as the stimulus for the increase in enrollment.