International
Longtime Advocates for Education Innovation Join Civitas Learning | Civitas Learning, a pioneer in the application of data analytics for higher education, announced today the addition of two long-time advocates for higher education transformation.
From a teaching perspective, ‘impact’ looks very different | Debates around the teaching excellence framework in England and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (Ahelo) are largely about measuring the ways in which high quality teaching impacts on students and society.
National learning analytics service: could it feed into the TEF? | Every day, universities collect huge amounts of information about their students, ranging from grades and attendance, to library loans and virtual learning environment log-ins.
U.S National
New Report: Federal Aid Rarely Affects Tuition Policy at Colleges and Universities | A new monograph written for ACE finds little evidence that increases in federal financial aid drive up college tuition, and that institutions rarely rely on federal aid as a rationale to give out less of their own institutional aid.
This millennial stereotype needs a little debunking | It’s a familiar stereotype by now: College graduates so burdened by their mountain of debt that they’re living in their parents’ basement, unable to take the next steps into adulthood.
Graduation Gap Widens | Public colleges are increasing students’ overall graduation rates, but a study finds the gap between black and white students continues to widen.
ED Secretary: U.S. Higher Ed Becoming ‘Caste System’ | U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King praised colleges and universities that do an exceptional job when it comes to admitting and graduating students who rely on Pell Grants but also called on leaders of those institutions to do more to encourage others to follow suit.
Obama administration says these colleges are doing a good job of serving low-income students | Before low-income families shuffle their children off to college, the Obama administration wants them to know which schools will give their sons and daughters the best shot at graduating.
U.S. States
Md. legislature makes higher education a priority | With 81 bills related to higher education under consideration in the General Assembly this year, Maryland lawmakers have made improving accessibility, affordability and excellence in higher education a priority this session.
California’s 2-Year Colleges Explore a New Accreditation Model | The Board of Governors for the state’s community-college system plans to consider a resolution on Monday that would establish a planning committee of campus leaders to explore “alternative structures for a regional accreditor, which will take many years to develop,” according to a summary of the resolution.
In Tenn., Politics or Good Policy? | New piece of governor’s ambitious higher ed agenda would break up statewide governing board to focus on two-year colleges and give six universities more independence. Critics predict backsliding on the state’s goals and skewed institutional priorities.
Education officials relieved over end to Pennsylvania budget crisis | Education advocates and school officials expressed relief Wednesday that Gov. Tom Wolf’s pledge not to block a Republican-crafted appropriations bill will ensure Pennsylvania schools remain open.
Institutional
Professor Cleared to Teach After Furor Over Race | U of Kansas lifts suspension of faculty member whose comments angered black students and others, who demanded she be fired.
Joliet Junior College President Debra Daniels resigns effective immediately | Joliet Junior College President Debra Daniels has resigned, citing personal reasons.
For Freshmen, Only Full-Time Faculty | Governors State U, with many at-risk students, and without much money, opts to fill freshman program course sections with full-time faculty members only.
Harold L. ‘Bud’ Hodgkinson, Renowned Education Demographer, Dies at 85 | Harold L. “Bud” Hodgkinson, who tracked America’s diversifying school population for more than 25 years, died at his home in Alexandria on March 4. He was 85.
San Jose State Scrambling to Address Racial Tensions | The high-profile case of racial bullying and abuse of a Black freshman, Donald Williams Jr., in 2013, put a spotlight on the mistreatment and harassment many minority students say they feel on an ongoing basis at SJSU — a school of 33,000 where only 3 percent of the student body is African-American.