International
Patterns and trends in UK higher education 2018 | The report analyses the last 10 years in higher education, focusing on applications, student demographics and graduate outcomes; staff backgrounds and expertise; and the income and expenditure of higher education institutions.
African universities need their own China expertise | Africa’s traditional donors, the Euro-American sphere, are currently in the grip of an anti-immigrant populism that has had implications for both overseas assistance as well as for African student mobility. China’s support in areas such as the natural sciences, engineering, vocational and language training, as well as hard infrastructure developments in the form of new research centres and technology, are, within the current context, hard to refuse.
Global innovators should watch out for China | The 2018 Global Innovation Index, prepared annually by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization, examines 126 countries’ performance against approximately 80 indicators and comprises innovation input measures (Institutions, Human Capital and Research, Market Sophistication and Business Sophistication) and output measures (Knowledge and Technology Outputs and Creative Outputs). Inputs and outputs are combined into an overall index.
International student numbers have doubled in 20 years | [W]hile international students accounted for only 6% of total enrolment in tertiary education in 2016, they represented more than a quarter (26%) of enrolment in doctoral programmes in OECD countries.
Is it time for a radical university challenge? | Education has a vital democratic function, not least in providing spaces where individuals from dramatically different backgrounds can meet – as in Cara’s interview – at times, on equal terms. This is particularly important in universities, where the knowledge that is created has a key role in determining the future of wider society; those with a stake in its creation thus shape the ideas and priorities that result.
World University Rankings 2019: results announced | China is now home to the best university in Asia, while France’s Sorbonne University is the highest-ranked newcomer in the table.*
Joint call for action over higher education funding | In a joint statement, the group warns that, if urgent action is not taken, there is a real risk of an irreversible slide in the quality of Ireland’s Third Level system.*
Education in Iraq is in crisis. UK universities can help | A number of Iraqi academics, students and professionals say they urgently need modernised materials and methods for learning and teaching. Equally, many Iraqi academics worry about political interference in the sector, regarding it as a further barrier to development.*
Free higher education is not sustainable, says UFS VC | Cape Town – A subsidised higher education system by the government with the current economic growth is not sustainable. This is according to University of Free State (UFS) Vice-Chancellor Professor Francis Petersen.*
U.S. National
How the Great Recession changed higher education forever | The immediate impact of the Great Recession eventually faded on campuses, but the scars of the financial crisis remain with higher education in three significant ways.
Despite the economic recovery, student debtors’ ‘monster in the closet’ has only worsened | The student loan default rate more than doubled between 2003 and 2011, according to Education Department data. Forty percent of student borrowers are expected to default on their loans by 2023, according to the Brookings Institute.
Policy Experts Discuss Future College Affordability at Century Foundation Gathering | Foremost among the numerous challenges facing higher education is affordability, particularly disparities and inequities affecting Black and lower-income students who seek to enter college, graduate and pay back significant loan debt. That was a recurring theme during “Higher Ed 2020: College Affordability Ideas for the Next Congress and Beyond,” an event hosted by The Century Foundation that brought policy experts together Wednesday at New York University’s D.C. campus.*
U.S. States
USC Race Center Issues Report Card on Black Student Equity | The research, supported by a Ford Foundation grant, used four equity indicators: representation equity, the extent to which Black students’ enrollment in undergraduate programs mirrored their representation among persons ages 18 through 24 in their state; gender equity, the extent to which the proportionality of Black women and Black men enrollment reflected national gender distribution across all ethnic and racial groups; completion equity, the extent to which the six-year completion rates of Black students across four cohort matched the graduation rates overall during the same time period at each institution; and the Black student-to-Black faculty ratio that counted full-time, degree-seeking Black undergrads and full-time Black faculty at each school.
Illinois leads the country in community college students later earning bachelor’s degrees | Illinois moved up from No. 3 in the previous survey, jumping Iowa and Washington in the process. Nearly 54 percent of students who entered a community college in Illinois in 2010 graduated with a bachelor’s degree within six years. Illinois’ number is almost 12 percentage points higher than the national average.*
Institutional
The 2018 Surveys of Admissions Leaders: The Pressure Grows | Not only are a majority of colleges failing to fill their new classes by May 1, the traditional target date, but they are failing to do so by June 1 as well, according to the 2018 Survey of College and University Admissions Directors, released today by Inside Higher Ed, in collaboration with Gallup.
Retention Rates to be Examined by New Committee | Dickinson College’s website reports that it has maintained a first-year retention rate of 90-92% since 2012, though a new committee has formed to analyze retention including “trying to understand why students leave, who’s leaving, why are they leaving, and where are they going” said Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Inclusivity Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Inclusivity Brenda Bretz.*
‘Degrees When Due’ Initiative Supports Equitable Degree Attainment | An inaugural Degrees When Due cohort of more than 25 postsecondary institutions from eight states will partner with IHEP to implement research-based strategies to close educational attainment gaps and push students to finish their degrees. The initiative will advance what IHEP coins as “degree reclamation” for adult learners and other students who have some college experience, but no degree.*
* Added after posting at 19:29 GMT.