International
Higher Education: Challenges & Concerns | Economies are no longer built by physical and natural resources alone. In the knowledge-based global society of 21st century, economies are increasingly built upon human resources. Thus, never in the history of human civilisation, knowledge has acquired so much productive potential for development, both for the individual and the society at large.
Notes from Pakistan: This country isn’t a world leader in higher education, but it may offer a lesson for us | A young Muslim woman walks softly across the university library, finds a lone seat along the wall, and opens up her laptop to study in privacy. Above her is a poster: “The true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers.”
African research universities to create hub of expertise | The universities that form the membership of the African Research Universities Alliance, or ARUA, are working to create such a platform for similar growth in research capacity across the continent over time, by aligning Africa’s leading research universities into a hub of research expertise.
OECD: Germany’s publicly funded, no-fees system ‘unsustainable’ | Figures in the OECD’s annual Education at a Glance report, published earlier this month, have prompted the organisation’s director of education, Andreas Schleicher, to offer criticisms of Germany’s funding model.
Bennett to OECD education ministers: We can transform the world | The conference in Jerusalem brought together some 30 education ministers and delegations from around the world.
‘The Political Economy of Higher Education Finance’ | First of all, whether higher education is privatized or not is a political decision, so it is interesting and necessary to compare countries that have made different decisions. A comparative perspective can clearly help us here to understand the causes and consequences, the advantages and disadvantages of privatization.
Finance system key to averting education crisis: Peter Noonan | In a speech to the Australian College of Educators on Monday, Professor Noonan said if tertiary enrolments remained at present rates, participation rates among 15 to 24-year-olds would be lower in 2030 than in 2008.
Sulphur in the wind: the current crisis in South African higher education | The consequences of the Bantu Education Act (1953) and the Extension of University Education Act (1959) lingered on, and in the fortieth year since the Soweto student insurgency, they linger still. The raced inequality and inequity actively constructed by colonial and apartheid education policies –the latter more intensively than the former – have not been fully unmade,
U.S. National
From the Chronicle’s Obama Issue (no subscription required for these two articles):
Meritocracy in Obama’s Gilded Age | For starters, the meritocratic image of elite universities is troubling in theory and in practice. Even at its most idealized, social mobility — the chance for the naturally talented to rise to professional status through educational advancement — is deeply inegalitarian.
How Obama Sees America | Whereas earlier generations of Americans committed to similar ideals and programs usually considered them either consistent with God’s will or mandated by reason, Obama understands that they are simply part of our cultural and historical inheritance. They are what we have decided that we value, and they are no less precious to us as a result.
Shaken By Economic Change, ‘Non-Traditional’ Students Are Becoming The New Normal | More colleges and universities need to become better equipped to address the needs of older students, she says. And soon. The already large adult student population is projected to grown even larger in coming years.
Expert: Higher Ed not Immune from Unconscious Bias | As race relations in the U.S. continue to be strained over fatal police shootings of Black men, those who work in higher education should not see themselves as immune from the same kind of unconscious bias that many believe is a factor in those shootings, a higher education leader told conference attendees this week in Washington.
U.S. States
N.J. needs to spend more on higher education, change student loan programs, panel says | The recommendations are contained in a report set to be released Wednesday by a commission charged with looking at ways to make college more affordable in the state, which has the fourth highest public tuition and fees in the nation, averaging more than $13,000 a year.
Higher Ed Federal-State Partnerships Urged to Aim Higher | The Education Trust on Thursday amplified the longstanding calls among some in higher education for a greater emphasis on federal-state partnerships that focus on lowering college costs and boosting completion rates for low-income students.
Institutional
From Retention to Persistence | For years, our prevailing view of student retention has been shaped by theories that view student retention through the lens of institutional action and ask what institutions can do to retain their students. Students, however, do not seek to be retained. They seek to persist.
An Allegation of Racial Profiling | A black student at Prairie State College says he was racially profiled on his way to class by a campus police officer. A dismissive response from the chair of the college’s board draws criticism.
The business decision segregating college students by income and race | As calls intensify for more diversity at universities and colleges, some students and researchers say socioeconomic and racial segregation on campuses is instead on the rise. Among other things, they say, differently priced dorms and dining halls are dividing rich and poor — and, by extension, white and nonwhite — by what they can afford to pay.
Only 86 freshmen at Chicago State University, as total enrollment drops 25 percent | Overall, the university now has fewer than half the number of total students it did six years ago. There are 3,578 students taking classes at the Far South Side campus this fall, down from 7,362 students in 2010, according to university figures released Tuesday.
By All Measures, University of Texas at San Antonio Rising at Rapid Rate | Under Romo’s leadership, UTSA has surged in the ranks among its peers, emerging as one of the fastest-growing higher education institutions in Texas while tightening its admissions standards from a one-time open admissions institution.
Louisville Board Overhaul Blocked | A judge on Wednesday rejected Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin’s attempt to replace the University of Louisville’s Board of Trustees, issuing a strongly worded ruling calling the change inconsistent with state law and an invitation to future abuses of power.
Shared Governance, Not Shared Power | At the same time, very few presidents or board members see shared governance as sharing “equal rights” with other constituencies, including faculty members. The majority of respondents said it should work as a system of aligning priorities.