International
Lords revolt over plans for ‘free-market’ universities | The government faces a huge cross-party revolt next week over controversial reforms of higher education that would make it easier for new colleges to award degrees, become universities and make profits from teaching students.
The big issue: from universities to schools, the system is in crisis | It is interesting to note that the Tories are using the same argument for their higher education bill as they used in the 1980s, when proposing the privatisation of the energy industry.
‘No Certificate of Global Citizenship’ | At a rally in Cincinnati in December, Donald J. Trump hammered home his “America first” message and took a shot at “global citizenship,” a term with considerable currency in academe.
Malawi Law Society push for reopening of colleges, bemoan academic crisis | MLS president John Suzi Banda and Honorary Secretary Khumbo Bonzoe Soko said in a statement made available to Nyasa Times that disruptions to public universities’ academic calendar, mock the position of higher education as key to national development.
Degree or skill education? | While the need for skill inculcation has always found space in various educational policy documents churned out in the country [India] since independence, current discourses in the arena of both school education and higher education has increasingly emphasised on outcome based learning leading to skill development.
The End of Analytics? | The general feeling of many of these executives seemed to be that the traditional notion of “analytics” can recede into the background, and that what workers really need is to be told [by artificial intelligence] at any point the smartest thing to do next.
Poor quality of higher education will exacerbate crisis in 2017 | As prospective students across the country gear up for the 2017 academic year, they will yet again be faced with an unfair dilemma: that is, to apply to the relatively small group of Universities that offer degrees of international standing, or to be confined to degrees, that while valuable, render them significantly less competitive in South Africa’s economy.
Education access problem ‘is poverty, not gender’ | UN plan to eradicate gender inequality misses larger problem of low access rates linked to poverty, University of Cambridge experts warn.
In Lebanon, even private schools caught in education crisis | According to statistics from the Center for Educational Research and Development published in 2014 and 2015, private and UNRWA schools in Lebanon accommodate more than 70% of Lebanese students, and only 28% of Lebanon’s students go to public schools. The public education sector is plagued by curricula problems created by the influx of Syrian students, particularly to the rural areas close to the Lebanese-Syrian borders where the refugee camps are located and to some cities that have attracted large numbers of Syrians like Tripoli, Akkar, Nabatieh and the Bekaa cities.
U.S. National
More Transparency in Higher Education Will Help Improve Student Outcomes | To identify the most promising ways to improve postsecondary outcomes, researchers and policymakers need transparency into the data collected from Federal Student Aid (FSA) programs. That’s why the Department has taken significant steps to ensure more and better data are available. And it’s why today, we are announcing additional efforts to support responsible data access and transparency of information about higher education, while supporting borrower privacy and data security.
New Center on Race and Equity | Harper and the University of Southern California are now aiming to both simplify the process of conducting campus climate surveys while also significantly expanding the scope of such research. This year, Harper and USC will develop a new nationwide survey to administer to hundreds of institutions to, as he described it, “gather intel on critically important questions that are keeping university leaders wide-awake at night.”
The Whiter the School District, the Higher the Risk? | The term at risk is often based on the notion of failure. Mainstream language of at risk inspires thoughts of students incapable of (or not likely to) transition into functioning, self-sufficient adults. This is, after all, the first definition of the at-risk student offered up on a Google search, provided by Wikipedia: at-risk students, sometimes referred to as at-risk youth, are also adolescents who are less likely to transition successfully into adulthood and achieve economic self-sufficiency.
Rational Actors | A common criticism of the faculty reward system is that it tends to value research over teaching. A just-released working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research offers new evidence in support of that contention, suggesting that the number of students a professor teaches has relatively little to do with their compensation.
History Jobs Flat | Available jobs for history Ph.D.s are down, but so is the number of new Ph.D. recipients, suggesting a slight market correction, according to information released Wednesday by the American Historical Association.
U.S. States
Addressing the college and career part of Idaho’s education system | As we near the midway point in successfully implementing the 20 recommendations from the 2013 Task Force for Improving Education, it’s time to turn our attention to the postsecondary part of Idaho’s K-through-Career education system.
Scott proposes freezing student fees, extending Bright Futures | Seeking to keep higher-education costs low and help more students graduate on time, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday outlined an ambitious legislative agenda to cap student fees, eliminate sales taxes on textbook purchases and extend the Bright Futures scholarships to summer classes.
Missouri Lawmaker Who Wants to Eliminate Tenure Says It’s ‘Un-American’ | College graduates in Missouri should be able to find jobs that correspond with their degrees, and their professors should help them do so, says State Rep. Rick Brattin, a Republican.
Institutional
Making the Case for Liberal Arts Colleges | Study finds positive impact on graduates’ life experiences, including leadership, civic-mindedness … and financial success.
Teach students how to handle change, says new Olin dean | Mark Taylor, who became dean of Washington University in St Louis’ (WashU) Olin Business School in December, said higher education institutions should be training students to deal with the potential fallout of events like the election of Donald Trump and the UK’s EU referendum.
Is the Worst Over at CCSF? | Most recently CCSF has faced a series of academic and program cuts proposed by the administration and a loss in state funding… Unlike in past years, City College has focused on creating STEM-related internships with the business community, working with the city government and local high schools, and seeking to become more efficient and accountable in an effort to drive up enrollments and rebuild its budget for the future.
Meet the New Director of Institutional Research | Although often bogged down with technical definitions and quantifying stuff in isolation,, IR work also involves a dynamic and rewarding creative process of dialogue,learning, and navigation with colleagues toward Defining the actual questions being asked , and determining which of multiple data sources would best serve the requestor’s specific data needs.