International
OECD Finds Advanced Economies Need to Accelerate SDG Implementation | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released an updated assessment of each OECD country’s progress towards the SDGs. Overall, the report finds that OECD countries need to accelerate efforts to leave no one behind, particularly to achieve SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), and to achieve certain educational and employment outcomes, healthy behaviors, violence and safety, and human rights.
University boards – Visibility, efficiency and accountability | University boards serve as key agents of higher education governance in many countries, including Ethiopia, and are frequently conceived of as a buffer between the state and higher education institutions. The largest role in external governance of the higher education sector in Ethiopia is taken by the Ministry of Education, now the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
UN urges universities to be catalysers of sustainability | Although young people are driving a global wake-up call on climate change and the need to reduce our carbon footprint, many universities are struggling with the concept and agenda of ‘greening’ and their achievements to date have been “scattered and unsystematic”, UN Environment, the leading global environmental authority, warned this week. In a report published on its website, it says some schools and universities are leading by example and reducing carbon emissions, promoting renewable energy and becoming “hotbeds of activism on the defining issue for a generation”.
U.S. National
More on the College Dropout Crisis | At these less elite colleges, the problem isn’t diversity. The problem tends to be performance. The dropout rate is often above 40 percent. Many students leave with the miserable combination of student debt but no degree.
Report: Income, Race Disparities Persist in Higher Education Opportunities | While the United States has made progress in increasing postsecondary attainment, data trends show that there are still persisting inequalities in higher education opportunity, according to a new report from the Council for Opportunity in Education’s Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education and the University of Pennsylvania Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (PennAHEAD).
Wealth’s Influence on Enrollment and Completion | Students from the lowest quintile who attended college were more likely to first pursue an associate degree (42 percent) than a bachelor’s degree (32 percent). Their peers from the wealthiest quintile, however, were much more likely to first seek a four-year degree (78 percent) than a two-year degree (13 percent). Likewise, the percentage of higher-income students who first enrolled at a highly selective college or university (37 percent) easily outpaced that of lower-income students (7 percent).
Low-Income and Minority Students Are Growing Share of Enrollments, and 2 Other Takeaways From New Study | Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study — which was last updated in 2016 — the Pew researchers found that community colleges and the least-selective four-year colleges have seen the greatest rise in poor and minority students. The most selective, private four-year institutions have not seen as much of an increase, according to a report by the researchers.
Beefing Up the College Scorecard | After its future initially looked uncertain with a Republican in the White House, the College Scorecard has become a central piece of the higher ed agenda for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. She’s pulled back on Obama-era accountability rules like gainful employment but argued that college students would be better served by having more data on individual programs.
Ocasio-Cortez: College students shouldn’t need donation from billionaire to afford college | “It’s important to note that people shouldn’t be in a situation where they depend on a stranger’s enormous act of charity for this kind of liberation to begin with (aka college should be affordable), but it is an incredible act of community investment in this system as it is,” Ocasio-Cortez, who before her rise in politics was working as a bartender in New York City, said on Twitter.
U.S. States
Experts say Washington’s new higher education bill is one of the smartest ways to make college more affordable | On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill that will eliminate the wait list for financial aid. More than that, it guarantees that students coming from families making up to the state’s median income — $92,000 for a family of four — will receive some state financial aid. And for families of four making 50,000 or less? Their tuition will be completely covered.
Illinois public universities unite to advocate for increased funding | The University of Illinois System has joined with all of the state’s public universities in a united effort to advocate for robust funding to Illinois higher education. The universities launched a statewide advocacy campaign today that includes a call-to-action for alumni and appearances from university presidents around the state to build grassroots community and legislative support for higher education.
Enrollment Shortfalls Spread to More Colleges | The private institutions, in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, have rarely, if ever, had to worry about filling their classes.
Boost for Community Colleges Means 1-Year Bust for Universities | A recent analysis of Oregon’s tuition-free community college scholarship found that the program helped increase enrollment at the state’s two-year colleges but shifted students away from public four-year institutions in the first year of its existence.
Colorado Community College System Remains Dedicated to Affordability | The Colorado Community College System (CCCS) will continue its efforts to keep higher education affordable after the Colorado State Legislature recently approved $120 million in higher education funding. As a direct result, CCCS announced tuition for its 13 colleges around the state will not increase for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Institutional
Can Data Ward Off College Debt? There’s a Push to Show Which Majors Pay Off | The Department of Education on Tuesday released detailed information showing the average amount of debt incurred by graduates of different academic programs at each college in America. This focus on programs, rather than institutions as a whole, is gaining favor among political leaders and could have far-reaching effects.
Billionaire’s gift to wipe out Morehouse student loans highlights debt ‘crisis,’ advocates say | Smith’s promise to eliminate up to $40 million in student loans for Morehouse’s nearly 400 graduates is inspiring, student advocacy and consumer groups say, but the act of generosity also highlights the growing burden on student borrowers who owe close to $1.5 trillion in student loan debt nationwide. That’s double the amount from 10 years earlier, according to the Federal Reserve.
Billionaire Promises to Pay Off Student Debt for Morehouse Graduates | Billionaire investor Robert F. Smith has promised to pay off the student loan debt for this year’s graduating class of Morehouse College.
Teaching Evals: Bias and Tenure | The first paper suggests that relatively simple changes to the language used in SETs can make a positive impact in assessments of female professors. Yet the authors warn that if these changes were widely adopted, students (and their biases) might adjust to the new system — and the positive effect for female professors might wear off. A second study finds that professors are seen by students as better teachers before they earn tenure. The authors say that this is not a reason to do away tenure entirely, just that increased job security inside or outside academe may come with decreased “quality of output.”
For Poor Students, Income Share Agreements May Offer Opportunity | As income share agreements proliferate in college financial aid offices, proponents hope they’ll make higher education more accessible to low-income students, who enroll in and complete college at lower rates than their more affluent peers. These contracts may hold special promise for members of groups who don’t have access to federal financing, like immigrants who lack legal documentation or people who are incarcerated. Not everyone is thrilled by the prospect of marketing income share agreements to students with few other options. ISAs remain largely unregulated. They offer less favorable terms than grants. And they don’t do much to address the systemic problems that make higher education so expensive in the first place, like declining state support for public universities.