International
Graduate outcomes and research are key to furthering innovation | At last week’s annual Universities Australia conference, the opening keynote speaker, Jo Ritzen, argued that graduate outcomes have as much impact on innovation as research.
The world needs strong higher education in Africa | “It is fundamental that everybody gets appropriate education as well as higher education when possible and needed,” adds the professor of systems theory and control at the University of Tunis El Manar in Tunisia, while contemplating why African higher education is of consequence to the rest of the world.
Sharp drop in foreign students at business schools | Business school leaders are calling on the government to change the policy on student visas to make Britain a more attractive place following a sharp decline in international students taking business courses.
South Africa: Deputy Minister Mdududzi Manana – Etdp Tvet and Higher Education and Research Colloquium | Speech by the Deputy Minister Mdududzi Manana on the ETDP TVET and Higher Education and Research Colloquium
U.S. National
Even Well-Off Black Students Carry More Loan Debt: Study | As student loan debt plays a growing role in the gap between America’s haves and have-nots, new research suggests that imbalance could make it even harder for young minorities to climb the income ladder.
LSSSE Research Finds Rising Trend in Law Student Debt and Stress | Newly-released data by the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) analyzes law student debt trends during the 10-year period, 2006 to 2015. The report, How a Decade of Debt Changed the Law Student Experience, provides a compelling view of the rising nature of law student debt and how those trends affected various aspects of the student experience.
College Degrees Are on the Rise, But Not Among Older Americans | College attainment continues to climb, but not among all age groups. And a growing share of those earning undergraduate degrees had prior degrees or certificates.
Using Pell to Boost Merit Aid | The number of Pell recipients a college enrolls doesn’t tell the whole story, a report says. Institutional aid and how much low-income students end up paying also matters.
Poll: About Half U.S. Students Identify as ‘Hopeful’ and ‘Engaged’ | Only about half of U.S. students are “hopeful” and “engaged” in school, while the rest are either not engaged or actively disengaged and stuck or discouraged, according to an annual Gallup Student Poll released Tuesday.
Study: Many Colleges’ Financial Outreach Coming at Pell Grant Recipients’ Expense | More colleges and universities are using their institutional aid to woo wealthy students who can pay instead of using it to help low-income students to make up the difference between what their federal Pell Grants cover and what it costs to go to college.
The Shrinking Humanities Major | The number of bachelor’s degrees conferred in what the academy considers core humanities disciplines (English language and literature, history, languages and literatures other than English, linguistics, classical studies, and philosophy) declined 8.7 percent from 2012 to 2014, falling to the smallest number of degrees conferred since 2003 — 106,869.
Tangled Financial Aid Process Deepens College Affordability Crisis | Even as financial aid becomes increasingly essential, it’s so complicated to obtain that millions of eligible students don’t apply for it, or they take out the wrong kind of loans, incurring more debt than they need to.
U.S. States
University presidents paint dire picture of Illinois higher education | Presidents of three public universities told an Illinois Senate panel Thursday the state is facing an unprecedented crisis that could dramatically alter the future of higher education in Illinois.
U.S. Senator Menendez Hosts Affordable Education Roundtable at Union County College | U.S. Senator Bob Menendez visited Union County College’s Cranford Campus on Friday morning, joining administrators and students in a forum on the ever-rising rates of student loans and how current legislation will make college tuition more affordable.
Institutional
160 Private Colleges Fail Education Dept.’s Financial-Responsibility Test | According to a Chronicle analysis of data released on Friday, 160 degree-granting private colleges failed the U.S. Education Department’s financial-responsibility test, which seeks to quantify the financial health of proprietary and nonprofit institutions, for the 2013-14 academic year.
Evolving Higher Education Business Models: Leading with Data to Deliver Results | The network approach shifts shared governance from an emphasis on institutional dialogue and coherence towards institutional performance based on agreed upon metrics by empowering those on the front lines to make data-informed decisions that improve institutional practices aligned with performance outcomes.
Delaware State Cutting 23 Degree-granting Programs | Delaware State University, the sole historically Black public college in Delaware, is “deactivating” 23 degree granting programs it identified as low enrollment, the university confirmed Monday.
School representative: WDTI already was working on probation deficiencies | An executive for Western Dakota Technical Institute said Monday changes already were planned before the school was put on probation by the agency that accredits it.
Embattled Board Chairman at Mount St. Mary’s Steps Down | The chairman of the Board of Trustees at Mount St. Mary’s University has stepped down, seven months before the end of his term, after weeks of turmoil over controversial comments by Simon P. Newman, who recently resigned as president of the Maryland campus.
New Ground for Pearson | A two-year college in Ohio has gone farther than most by hiring education juggernaut Pearson to handle marketing, recruitment and retention of students.