International
University rankings and the battle for talent | The battle for talent becomes even more pressing given that a number of countries are facing problems associated with the ageing of their workforces. To obtain a handle on talent, its development and management, INSEAD put out a yearly Global Talent Competitiveness Index, which ranks 118 countries around the world.
Is halving of student admissions the right strategy? | The Saudi Minister for Labour and Social Development Dr Ali Al-Ghafis made a staggering statement last month that Saudi Arabia is planning to halve its university admissions numbers.
Canada’s Moment | Many Canadian universities are reporting large gains in international applications at the same time some American universities are seeing declines.
Spoiled Science | What Wansink had described is more or less a recipe for p-hacking, a practice that has led to a lot of hand-wringing and soul-searching in recent years, particularly among social psychologists.
Student disruptions put an end to education fees convention | The Higher Education National Convention was postponed indefinitely by the National Education Crisis Forum after students disrupted proceedings and would not allow the Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande to address the crowd.
A foray into the messy world of Fees Must Fall politicking | I am relatively unfamiliar with the inner politics behind Fees Must Fall, which as of 2016, got very confusing very fast. I can’t say I’ve become more aware of the nuances of the movement and I certainly can’t comment on its intricacies fully, but it was disheartening that petty politics seems to have taken over.
U.S. National
Higher Ed Leaders Lambaste Federal Budget Proposal | “If this proposal were enacted, all students, particularly students of color and low-income students, throughout the entire continuum of our education system would suffer, as would the nation’s businesses who desperately need a skilled workforce to be successful,” said John B. King, Jr., CEO and president of The Education Trust, and former U.S. Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama.
New Budget Proposal May Hit Hispanic-Serving Institutions Hardest | The administration is also seeking to make cuts to or eliminate student development programs, like TRIO, GEAR-UP, and AmeriCorps. Reducing or eliminating these programs would have an outsize effect on low-income students’ ability to access college, Warick said.
Better Marriage Between College and Job Training | Republican-dominated Washington wants more occupational job training as an alternative to college degrees. But higher education will remain the federal government’s primary job-training system, albeit one experts say could use a reboot.
Gender Pay Gap Persists Across Faculty Ranks | Faculty salaries increased 2.8 percent in 2015 over the previous year, according to the latest U.S. Education Department data.
Measuring College (Un)affordability | [A] new report shows that as many as 95 percent of colleges are completely unaffordable—and thus unavailable—for huge swaths of Americans. For many would-be college students, their choices are delimited by their socioeconomic status before they have even taken the SAT.
U.S. States and Territories
Want to create good jobs? Then fund higher education | [A]ccording to the state’s own Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, “if Illinois had grown at the same rate as the nation since the beginning of the recovery, we would have added an additional 222,700 jobs.”
Report: New Mexico leads nation in in-state college affordability | Student Loan Hero, an Austin, Texas-based student loan management company, used U.S. Department of Education data to calculate the average cost per credit hour for residents to attend public colleges and universities in each state. The average rate at schools around New Mexico is by far the lowest, at $112.77, the firm said in its report.
Amid Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, communities fight to keep schools | After 150 schools closed on the island – part of an austerity plan to close up to 600 – parents serve as janitors and students face up to a two-hour round-trip by foot to get an education.
Institutional
Higher ed and K-12 cooperation boosts outcomes, access [SXSWedu 2017] | Particularly for schools in areas where high levels of inequality and racial hierarchy have contributed to lost higher education access and low high school graduation rates, partnerships with local colleges and universities can help lift K-12 outcomes and improve students’ opportunities.
‘Realizing the Distinctive University’ | Administrators constantly make decisions that presuppose intimate knowledge of academic matters. A nonfaculty administrator is likely to struggle articulating a nuanced academic vision and making layered assessments of academic quality.
YSU savings equates to 7.5 percent of Wright State University’s savings for 2016 | An Affordability and Efficiency Report issued by the Ohio Department of Higher Education reveals that Youngstown State University could do better at saving money through being more efficient.
Turning Down Top Choices | Almost one-fifth of students who were admitted to their top choice of college or university in 2016 but decided not to go there turned it down because of the cost of attendance, according to new data from Royall & Co., the enrollment-management and alumni fund-raising arm of EAB.
SNHU, Rethink Education to Invest $15 Million in Seed Stage EdTech Startups | Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is teaming up with Rethink Education to create a new $15m seed fund which will invest in ed-tech start-up companies who are tackling some of the most pressing challenges in education.
Accrediting Group Sees 2017 as Year of Governance | At a time when the roles and functions of college and university governing boards are being increasingly debated, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) is focusing on “effective governance” at its annual Small College Initiative meeting set for next month in Atlanta.