International
Israeli students kick off higher education academic year | Some 310,565 students kicked off the academic school year on Sunday at 63 higher-education institutions throughout the country… According to the Council for Higher Education (CHE), some 234,965 are enrolled in bachelor’s programs, 63,120 are pursuing master’s degrees, and 11,075 are in doctoral programs.
Regulator audit finds universities in funding crisis | Kenyan universities are sinking into a fresh financial crisis, with revelations in an audit that they are operating at huge deficits, hurting the quality of learning. A report from sector regulator the Commission for University Education shows that institutions face a US$100 million budget gap.
Conversation about economy vital | The question of free public higher education is not only one for South Africa but is one that needs to be addressed worldwide. Free public educational is not some crazy utopian fantasy. It is simply one that demands the rethinking of fiscal priorities…
Financial crisis threatens Ireland’s Institutes of Technology | A financial review of the Institutes of Technology (ITs) across Ireland has pointed to significant financial deficiencies… It describes six of the ITs – Letterkenny, Tralee, Galway-Mayo, Waterford, Dundalk and Cork – as vulnerable.
Getting to the heart of SA’s higher education crisis | Tertiary education in South Africa is caught between a government reluctant to engage, and students unlikely to compromise.
U.S. National
Study Underscores Bias Obstacles for Women, Minorities in Engineering | Engineering remains one of the most male-dominated fields in STEM, with women comprising only 14 percent of engineers in the U.S. workforce. Studies show that it is a problem of attrition, or what some experts call a “leaky pipeline.” Women are less likely to complete their program of study in engineering, and once they graduate, many find it difficult to establish longevity in the field. An estimated 40 percent of women leave engineering by midcareer.
U.S. States
College affordability: a shared obligation | The four entities in the higher education matrix — the federal government, state governments, students and their families, and higher education itself — must each acknowledge that just as they share the benefits associated with providing affordable and high quality higher education, they also have an obligation to share the costs.
Markell: Statewide assessments indicate improvement in student outcomes | [Delaware] Gov. Jack Markell on Tuesday lauded the level of community engagement in education as one of the most encouraging signs of progress in the state’s pursuit of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) approved in December last year.
Attacking Austerity | It is taken as an axiom in many administrative circles that public colleges and universities cannot rely on government funding sources to fuel their budgets in the future. A new book from a pair of City University of New York Graduate Center professors examines how that conclusion came to be and describes in blistering terms what it has meant for public higher education.
Institutional
When Latina Student Wrote ‘Hence,’ Her Professor Assumed Plagiarism | The student, Tiffany Martínez, shared her story in a blog post — “Academia, Love Me Back” — that went viral on Friday. In the post, she described how a professor (whom she did not name) was handing back papers (in this case a literature review) and told her that “this is not your language.” At the top of the paper, the professor asked her to indicate where she had used “cut and paste.” And in an example of language that the instructor assumed could not have come from Martínez, the instructor circled the word “hence” and wrote, “This is not your word,” with “not” underlined twice.
Too Old and Too Female for Fashion Studies? | Columbia College’s fashion studies department has been in something of an uproar this year over plans to reframe it as the “Fashion Next” program and drop a technique-heavy bachelor of fine arts in favor of a single bachelor of arts degree. The changes are in part a response to a recent drop in enrollments in the department, reflective of a major drop in enrollment at the college over all — from about 12,000 students in 2008 to about 8,000 this year.
How One University Used Big Data To Boost Graduation Rates | At least 40 percent of universities report that they’re trying some version of the same technology on their students, according to several recent surveys. It’s known as predictive analytics, and it can be used to either help or hurt students, says a new report from the New America Foundation.
Law Schools Flagged for Job Data | The first audits of the employment data that law schools report about their recent graduates have generated concern among watchdogs, with a series of reviews finding several deficiencies that raise questions about the class of 2015’s reported outcomes.
The Colleges Are Watching | With access to predictive analytics and more data than ever before, how can universities avoid invading students’ privacy while promoting academic success?
Can Colleges Train Professors to Steer Clear of Microaggressions? | Tiffany C. Martínez, a sociology major at Suffolk University, made waves last week when she blogged about an experience in which she said her professor had called her out in front of her classmates and accused her of copying parts of an assignment. Ms. Martínez said she was particularly upset that her professor had circled the word “hence” and written in the margin, “This is not your language.”
Letter: A college degree is important, and OU is working to make it more affordable | Meeting the imperative to increase education attainment levels in our state led to a formal Ohio Attainment Goal for 2025: By 2025, 65 percent of working-age adults in Ohio will have a postsecondary degree, certificate or other credential of value in the marketplace.
‘Free’ tuition concerns administrators | Catholic college and university administrators are expressing grave concerns about what they call an unprecedented push — a mantle presidential candidate Hillary Clinton inherited from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — to make learning on public college and university campuses “free.”