International
What ‘missing marks’ crisis says about higher education | It is fairly accurate to suggest that “missing marks” in public universities constitute something bordering on a national disaster. For any random Kenyan selected, one is either affected directly, or knows a Kenyan who is enduring or has survived, and probably recovering from the trauma of a “missing mark”.
Teaching intensity: the key to measuring student learning? | What constitutes good university teaching? Some argue that nothing beats the inspiring lecture from a department’s star professor, while others will wax lyrical about the merits of a lively debate in a tutorial or the unrivalled experience of getting hands-on in the laboratory.
How Canada became an education superpower | At university level, Canada has the world’s highest proportion of working-age adults who have been through higher education – 55% compared with an average in OECD countries of 35%.
Widening participation in higher education and the attainment gap – Sector response | Universities UK has today responded to the Department for Education’s widening participation in higher education statistics. Commenting on the widening participation in higher education statistics published today, Alistair Jarvis, Acting Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: “Universities have made considerable progress in this area in recent years, but there is more work to be done.
U.S. National
Report: Justice Department Will Target Affirmative Action | A bombshell report in The New York Times Tuesday night revealed that the U.S. Justice Department plans to investigate and sue colleges over their affirmative action policies in admissions.
Report: Justice Department Plans to Investigate Colleges’ Affirmative Action Admission Policies | The Trump administration plans to have the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division investigate and sue colleges and universities for their affirmative action admissions policies, according to the New York Times.
Senators Push for Expanded Childcare Support for Low-income Students | Legislation reintroduced in the Senate on Tuesday, the Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS) Reauthorization Act, would expand an existing federal program geared at helping low-income parents pay for childcare while in college.
Report: Community College Has Become Less Affordable | More than one-third of post-secondary students in 28 states attend a community college. Traditionally, this been a more affordable option than public or private four-year universities and colleges. However, it now appears that community college may be out of range for cost-conscious students, according to the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.
Private Colleges Say Collaboration Would Drive Down Tuition | The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) has proposed that Congress temporarily ease federal antitrust laws that prohibit private colleges from discussing prices and student aid. The current law is designed to prevent collusion across industry sectors, which might drive prices up. Schools argue that they have a vested interest in reducing tuition prices to make themselves attractive to more students, and that a tuition reset would be most effective when done in concert with other institutions.
U.S. States
Catch the Next propelling Latino students to success | More than 50 percent of Latinos who pursue higher education go to a community college. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, in Texas alone, 284,892 Latinos enrolled in community colleges in 2013 while only 34,000 earned a degree or certificate that same year.
Higher education’s perception problem deepens along political lines | The idea that more education has somehow hurt America is a concept born out of a “lack of information,” Ohio State University president Michael Drake told the Dayton Daily News. Drake said he would like to “spend some time with those 58 percent of people” to get to the root of their grievances.
New Mexico’s higher education system under microscope | New Mexico has 21 different governing boards running its 31 public colleges and universities, a higher education model some critics argue is inefficient and maybe even ineffective. Now the state is actively exploring alternatives.
Higher ed depends on data — and the people who decipher it | “The role for institutional researchers has never been more important, both from a student success perspective but also from the perspective of best practices.” But, thanks to technology, those in the Office of Institutional Research are not the only ones with access to data anymore. Everyone has access, even those outside of higher education.
Virginia needs $660 million for higher education | Virginia would need more than $660 million to restore the balance of funding to colleges and universities across the Commonwealth and possibly bring down costs for students according to a new report by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. With the additional money going to schools, it could mean the average student pays $2,700 less.
A Key (State) to Completion | The urgency to increase completion is driven, in part, by the fact that the state is facing a work force skills gap. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state will be about 1.1 million college graduates short of meeting the demand for workers with a bachelor’s degree by 2030, if current trends continue. Furthermore, in order for the state to be among the top 10 in the country for educational attainment rates, it needs to produce 2.4 million technical certificates, associate and bachelor’s degrees by 2025.
Institutional
Preparing our first graduates for their next step | Recently, Yale-NUS College achieved a major milestone with the graduation of our first cohort. In addition to the proud families hailing from 18 countries, who watched their children walk across the stage, staff at the college felt other sets of eyes on our newly minted alumni: those of people from our founding institutions and the general public.
UND widens leadership team in provost’s office | University Provost Tom DiLorenzo says he’s been “pleasantly surprised” by faculty interest in a program intended to engage a broader pool of current UND employees in responsibilities opened as part of his office’s now-unoccupied senior vice provost position.
Chancellor writes in support of UNC Center for Civil Rights | A ban on courtroom work for a University of North Carolina center that represents the poor and disenfranchised puts the school’s “hard-earned reputation at risk” if it leads the closure of the center, the chancellor of UNC’s flagship campus says.
Help Your Students Earn A’s by Not Focusing on Grades | If a student wants to earn an A in a class, the best way to do that might not involve concentrating on the grade at all. Instead, students should set their goals on the shorter-term, more tangible parts of a class — committing to doing homework, showing up to a certain number of classes or dedicating a set time for exam preparation — according to a working paper (abstract available here) from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
University of Washington recognized for access, affordability and value in three separate rankings | The University of Washington has been recognized by three separate publications in rankings focused on access for low-income students, affordability and value.
Time to Reset Tuition? | Deep cuts in tuition rates are a hot topic for private college administrators worried that their high sticker prices are scaring away students, but experts warn against gimmicky strategies.