International
Universities recommit to STEM mandates | Facing tight economic conditions, Zimbabwe’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, universities are grappling with a long-standing government directive to revert to their core mandate of teaching mainly science-related courses.
What are QA bodies doing to tackle academic corruption? | A group of global experts is carrying out research into what quality assurance and accreditation bodies are doing to tackle academic corruption around the world.
Brazilian scientists protest against research funding cuts | Pressure is mounting on the Brazilian government to reverse cuts to science and technology funding, as academic research bodies from across the country were poised to stage a mass protest outside the National Congress.
Name change for England’s TEF reflects ‘student outcomes’ shift | ‘Teaching excellence and student outcomes framework’ switch follows new metrics.
Employers to get say on courses in exchange for rise in payroll levy [Ireland] |Businesses are set to be given a greater say in shaping the type of higher education and training courses to be delivered over the coming years in exchange for increases to a payroll levy likely to be announced in this week’s budget.
OECD Education Report Highlights Increasing Tertiary Enrollment | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released its annual report on the state of education globally, which finds increasing enrollment in tertiary education alongside a failure among individuals to enroll in the fields that offer the greatest employment opportunities.
U.S. National
Book review of ‘The Struggle to Reform Our Colleges’ by Derek Bok | For decades, the colleges and universities of the United States were regarded as national treasures. These days, even though an undergraduate degree is almost universally acknowledged as essential to finding a good job, living a good life, and being a good citizen, a majority of Americans wonder whether it is worth the cost.
Accelerating Latino Success in Postsecondary Education is Focus for Excelencia | Latinos have been making gains across higher education, but it is time to start accelerating that progress, according to Deborah Santiago, co-founder, CEO and vice president for policy at Excelencia in Education, a Washington D.C.-based organization that seeks to advance Latino success in postsecondary education.
US College Rankings 2018 results: a game changer for American higher education | Phil Baty on why the results of the 2018 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education US College Rankings, published on THE today, matter so much.
The New, Improved IPEDS | Today, the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics unwraps a revision of the IPEDS database that will expand the government’s tools for measuring postsecondary outcomes, especially for the students who, for lack of a better term, are frequently called “nontraditional” (even though they now outnumber the “traditional” 18- to 22-year-olds).
U.S. States and Territories
At the U. of Puerto Rico After Maria | Early in the morning after the storm, in a blast of poor judgment, I walked the half mile to my campus, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.
Community College STEM Students Getting ‘Nudged’ Toward Success | While they are not a silver bullet that will transform student retention and completion, “behavioral nudges,” as they are also known, have been shown to be effective to that point that they are now a part of the education mainstream. Schools use text messages to remind students to sign up for classes, touch base with their academic advisors and a whole host of other necessary items on any college student’s agenda.
Unequal Opportunity in Illinois: A Look at Who Graduates College and Why It Matters | With poverty rates in Illinois increasing and postsecondary attainment more important than ever, a new report from the Partnership for College Completion reveals low completion rates, persistent achievement gaps between groups, and highlights how the rising cost of college combined with state budget cuts has put college diplomas farther out of reach for low-income students and students of color.
Institutional
Enrollment drops for fall 2017 | With a 10 percent overall student body loss from fall 2016 to fall 2017, Columbia [Chicago] continues to experience enrollment drops for the eighth year in a row.
Experts: Time for Plan to Aid Underserved Students | A report released last month by American College Testing (ACT) showed that only nine percent of underserved students — compared to 54 percent of students who were not underserved — were strongly ready for college as demonstrated by 2017 test scores.
First posted October 18, 2017.