International
Russell Group on tuition fees: students should pay, but system needs update | The UK has an enviable global reputation for its excellent higher education system and genuinely world-class universities, but that doesn’t come cheap: it needs proper funding, and it needs a funding system that is sustainable over the long term.
Employers to get greater say on education policy | Employers are to be given a greater say in shaping the type of education and training that is delivered over the coming years, in exchange for increases in payroll taxes… However, employers have criticised the plans to increase the levy as an “inappropriate response” which would undermine Ireland’s competitiveness.
Open data on universities – New fuel for transformation | Accessible, usable and relevant open data on South African universities makes it possible for a wide range of stakeholders to monitor, advise and challenge the transformation of South Africa’s universities from an informed perspective.
Cultural factors at work in social inequality in HE | Santos Sharpe also is part of a new generation of researchers grappling with the latest iteration of an age-old problem: Social inequality, and what higher education might do to lessen it.
Education has ‘done nothing’ to improve social mobility | Education has “not done anything” to improve social mobility and has made inequality worse, according to the education economist Stephen Machin.
Let’s bridge the divide between academic and technical education [UK] | The Social Mobility Commission’s most recent report notes that the funding and expertise ploughed into widening participation have resulted in more working class young people at university than ever before. But that comes with the large caveat that both student retention rates and graduate outcomes for the same group have scarcely improved in the last two decades.
Jo Johnson to announce v-c pay curbs, TEF changes | Universities will be asked to publicly justify any pay exceeding that of the prime minister, which stands at £150,402 a year, the minister is expected to say. According to Times Higher Education’s comprehensive data on vice-chancellors’ pay, only seven English institutions paid their leaders a salary below that level in 2015-16.
U.S. National
Congress must cut the student debt burden falling on all Americans | Total student loan debt has now climbed to a record $1.3 trillion in the United States. The good news is that with the improving economy, default rates have declined over the last four years. Nonetheless, 11 percent of borrowers are in default…
The Culling of Higher Ed Begins | The number of colleges and universities eligible to award federal financial aid dropped by 5.6 percent in 2016-17. The vast majority of disappearing institutions were for-profit colleges, but more than 30 private nonprofits were among them.
Integrating Millennials Into Higher Ed Administration | For millennials, educational institutions are considered among the least innovative and satisfying places to work, according to an article by Dian Schaffhauser in The Journal: Transforming Education Through Technology. That is particularly alarming for institutions of higher learning since, as boomer-generation administrators start to retire, upper administration and leadership turnover is predicted to hit record numbers.
The State of American Higher Education Outcomes | This report shows that getting better postsecondary outcomes must be at the forefront for policymakers seeking to prepare people to seize opportunity in the new economy. It seeks to measure how the American higher education system is doing based on three baseline metrics crucial for student success: 1) college completion, 2) post-enrollment earnings, and 3) loan repayment.
ACE Names Ted Mitchell President | The American Council on Education has selected former U.S. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell as its 13th president, the organization announced today. With the appointment, Mitchell — who succeeds Molly Corbett Broad, who served as the council’s president since 2008 — becomes the latest in a string of former Department of Education officials during the Obama administration who have assumed presidencies at education advocacy organizations here in the nation’s capital.
Opinion: Americans love higher education, just not their universities | Although Americans think that a degree is more important than ever before to economic success, they seem to be increasingly pessimistic that colleges can deliver on that promise given their ever rising costs and growing distance from the everyday concerns of parents and students.
Graduate outcomes data has ‘no impact’ on student choices, US survey finds | Data on graduate outcomes has “no detectable impact” on prospective US university students’ decisions about where or what to study, according to recent research.
U.S. States
Higher education sustainability faces challenging road | New Mexico has nearly three dozen higher education institutions, which together absorb about $750 million of this year’s general fund budget and service more than 100,000 students. “With 31 public higher education institutions in our state, can we afford to have them all? Or can we afford not to?”
Oklahoma leads nation in cuts to both common and higher education | Oklahoma has now cut total state education spending in seven out of the past 10 years. Accounting for inflation, we spent $887 million less on education in 2016 compared to 2009 — a nearly 17 percent drop. That’s almost three times what we would need to give every teacher a $5,000 raise and make their salaries competitive with other states.
Higher Ed Realignment Tough Pill to Swallow | There are too many colleges and universities for too few students. That Economics 101 lesson is compounded by lagging state funding, a stagnant economy and less tuition income associated with lower student count.
Institutional
Critics Dismissed at Sierra Nevada | Sierra Nevada College is among the small liberal arts colleges facing financial and enrollment difficulties this year… [L]ast week, the college notified six full-time faculty members that their jobs were being eliminated, while several other full-timers were told that their hours were being reduced.
Better Retention Could Boost Annual College Profits by $1 Million, Study Finds | Colleges could earn approximately $1 million annually if they increase student retention, a recent report from RPK Group finds, according to EdSurge. The research indicates the benefits of adopting new advising strategies, including those that are driven by data and adaptive learning.
Study: Increased Credit Hours’ Impact on Graduation Rates ‘Very Limited’ | When Dr. Dennis A. Kramer II, assistant professor of higher education at the University of Florida, set out to study the impact of excess credit-hour policies that charge students extra for taking significantly more courses than they need to graduate, he expected to find that the policies would be associated with higher graduation rates. Kramer said he was surprised to find that not only were the policies having a “very limited” impact on graduation rates and degree completion, but they were actually plunging students — particularly low- and middle-income students — deeper into debt.
Land O’ Lakes statement on Catholic higher education turns 50 | The document’s official name is “Statement on the Nature of the Contemporary Catholic University,” but its catchier title did not give it widespread acceptance. Ever since it was signed July 23, 1967, the text has been both revered and criticized.