International
Travel ban could signal the start of brain drain | There’s a surprising winner in United States President Donald Trump’s travel ban for people from seven predominantly Muslim countries: research universities in China – and their counterparts in Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Mexico.
HE has a role to play in rebuilding social solidarity | The two electorates were polarised by culture not class – between higher education-associated folk in the cities, more comfortable with migration and global connectedness; and less educated rural and small town folk, uneasy with globalisation and open to the appeal of blood-and-soil ethnic nationalism.
#Fees crisis tackled | Johannesburg – The newly formed National Education Crisis Forum is planning to host a national convention involving all interested parties next month to discuss the country’s higher education funding conundrum.
Australia’s innovation report card shows much work to be done | Australia ranks top 11 or better in the OECD for higher education expenditure on research and development, in the academic ranking of world universities, highly cited publications per million of population, government and higher education researchers per thousand total employment, and population aged 25-64 with a doctorate per thousand population.
Business sector set to keep driving R&D growth – OECD | According to the updated OECD R&D indicators, showing that government spending on research and development likely stagnated in advanced economies in 2016. This suggests the business sector is set to remain the driving force behind R&D growth for now.
[U.S.] Grad Schools Remain a Global Draw | More international students continue to apply to and enroll in U.S. graduate institutions, though not at the rapid pace seen in recent years, according to a report released Thursday by the Council of Graduate Schools.
Moseneke convenes The Forum to tackle higher education | Justice Moseneke said, “while South African society needs to contribute to reimagining its education system and to participate in sculpting the system of the free, quality, decolonised and decommodified education it envisages, resolution of the crisis requires State responsiveness to the vision of education that emerges from civil society”.
U.S. National
College and University Giving Rises 1.7% | Growth in charitable giving to colleges and universities slowed markedly in 2016 as increased giving from corporations, foundations and other organizations counterbalanced a slowdown in personal gifts and a drop in giving to the country’s largest fund-raising institutions.
Report Links ‘Disadvantaged’ Students, Quality Schools to Higher Loan Repayment Rate | In order to better position low-income or “disadvantaged” students to pay back their student loans, more should be done to shift such students — and the taxpayer money that is used to support them — away from low-quality institutions and toward institutions that have high “economic mobility.”
The Prestige Gap | Study suggests that men are overrepresented in elite Ph.D. programs, especially in those fields heavy on math skills, making for segregation by discipline and prestige.
U.S. States
State Support Up 3.4% | Support across all states rose by 3.4 percent from the 2015-16 to 2016-17 fiscal years, according to preliminary data gathered in the latest Grapevine survey, which was released today. That’s an increase of approximately $2.75 billion, driving total state support to nearly $83.6 billion.
Class of 2018 might not see tuition increase because of Kasich’s budget proposal | In the state’s budget proposal, Ohio Gov. John Kasich proposed a tuition freeze during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years, which means students in the class of 2018, or the last OU class not on guaranteed tuition, would not see the $105 increase originally approved.
U. of Alaska President Gets Second Vote of No Confidence | James R. Johnsen, president of the University of Alaska system, has received his second vote of no confidence in a month, this time by the Faculty Senate on the system’s Fairbanks campus.
OU official: Oklahoma’s higher education crisis Is real | In 2017, OU’s Norman campus received $5 million less than was received in 1999, despite a 32 percent increase in enrollment and a 45 percent increase in degrees awarded. We are doing far more, with far less.
Higher Education Provides Impressive Return on Investment | West Virginia’s public, four- and two-year colleges and universities drive the economy in the areas where they are located.
The Legislature should increase higher education funding | Since the beginning of the great recession, Alabama has suffered the second largest decline in state funding for higher education (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). In inflation adjusted dollars, Alabama students have seen a decrease in state funding of $4,337 per student since 2008.
Sides Not Close in Maryland HBCU Remedy Trial | According to Pierce, Maryland has essentially continued to maintain a public higher education system tainted with the vestiges of segregation and apartheid despite agreements with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to redress such discrimination.
Institutional
Our view: Affordable education right here at home | [W]e feel so fortunate to have an institution like Colorado Mountain College right here in our small, remote community, a college that offers quality education at truly affordable prices.
College Will Suspend Operations | Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana announced Friday that it will suspend all operations after the end of the current semester and a graduation ceremony for seniors.
Digging Deeper Into Campus Diversity | Amid all the literature about the merits of college diversity, an important trend is often overlooked, according to a new study in The Journal of Higher Education. Although more students report having positive experiences by studying and living with those from different racial, religious, political, gender and ethnic groups, negative experiences are fairly common, too — and they can impair student learning and cognitive development, according to the study.
A Cash Crisis and Collapse | Saint Joseph’s only has enough cash on hand to carry it through the end of May, the president said. It has about $6 million left in its endowment and is asking the Indiana attorney general for permission to remove restrictions on that money so it can use it to pay its bills. The college is heavily reliant on tuition today but also posts a 65 percent discount rate.