International
What 15 years of global ranking says about HE trends | This year’s edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities or ARWU marks a significant milestone. It is the 15th consecutive year in which the world’s top 500 list has been published. With this edition, ARWU includes for the first time an additional list of 300 universities that it deems to have the potential to break into the top 500.
Rankings Have Long Bamboozled Our Universities. When Will It End? | Trinity has had a tumultuous time with university rankings. Last year, because of an error that saw it state its annual income as just €355, it found itself excluded from the listings produced by Times Higher Education, which are widely considered the most prestigious.
U.S. National
International Enrollments: From Flat to Way Down | Amid concerns about visas and the political environment, some institutions are maintaining or even increasing their enrollment numbers, but many report drops, some by as much as 30 to 50 percent for new students.
Community college enrollment drops by double digits on some campuses; some call it a “crisis” | About half of California’s 114 community colleges are seeing enrollment drops this year, state education officials say – prompting calls for new recruitment tactics from some faculty and reassurances from administrators.
U.S. States
College leaders urge changes to California’s Higher Education master plan to improve access and affordability | Easing overcrowding and curbing the costs of attending California’s three systems of public higher education were among the issues on the table as state legislators Thursday opened a lengthy process to update the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education.
Making college affordable in Tennessee | As the cost of college continues to increase, all of us in higher education have an obligation to work toward making it more affordable. Fortunately, in recent years, higher education leaders in Tennessee have been at the forefront of policy and innovation designed to make college more accessible and affordable.
Enrollment the prize for MU, Missouri State | Off the field, the two schools compete all year grappling for new students from Missouri’s high schools. For both public universities, less state funding and a smaller pool of in-state college-age students — the primary source of freshmen for each — means enrollment is more important than ever.
Illinois spent millions on stalled and canceled university construction projects | Eight years after Illinois approved a massive capital plan for university campuses in the state, half of the largest new projects at state schools never began construction and are now canceled or indefinitely halted.
Institutional
Insensitive or Racist? | The study, published in the journal Race and Social Problems, defines microaggressions as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group.” Focusing on those who use microaggressions, rather than those who are on the receiving end, the study found a positive correlation between uttering microaggressions and harboring racist attitudes.
Faculty Members Organize to Fight ‘Fascist’ Interlopers on Campuses | In an effort to push back, Bill Mullen, an English professor at Purdue University, last spring formed a coalition of scholars called the Campus Anti-Fascist Network. Since a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that started on the University of Virginia’s campus turned deadly in August, Mr. Mullen said the network had grown from 40 to 400 members. including faculty, staff, and students.
Summer enrollment drops from internal and external factors | Columbia’s summer enrollment dropped 26 percent compared with last year, but the college administrators say the decrease may be in part, the result of the college’s effort to be more selective and other external factors.
After All but Closing, Sweet Briar Will Shift Curriculum and Pricing | Two years after alumnae filed a lawsuit and raised $12 million in a matter of weeks to keep the tiny institution from closing, Sweet Briar College’s faculty and its new president unveiled ambitious plans Wednesday morning to overhaul the curriculum, calendar, and pricing model.
A University’s Big Move on Socioeconomic Diversity | Using funds from its endowment to expand financial aid, Boston University notches sizable increase in proportion of its freshmen who come from low-income backgrounds.