By Laura B. McGrath. Laura B. McGrath is a PhD student in English at Michigan State University. She tweets at @lbmcgrath and blogs at Emerging Modernisms.
Many of us regularly refer students to different university services. Without batting an eye, I’ve encouraged students to visit the University Writing Center, to set up a meeting with a subject librarian, or to see a tutor in the English Language Center. These fantastic services can offer more specialized attention than I am able to give, and I’m so grateful for their partnership. But other types of referrals are not so concrete: What do you do, for example, when a student confesses that s/he has recently suffered some sort of trauma? Or when a student writes about illegal activity in a paper? Or when you notice fresh self-injury scars as you talk with a student after class? Read more...

By Elizabeth Redden. PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Virtually every college says it puts a priority on "global" or "international" learning and, in recent years, many have added language to that effect to their mission statements. But in the haste to do so, some institutions haven't quite fleshed out what they mean by it or what strategies will best support it.
“Now I think we’re backfilling, and being more specific about it, in a context where we’re being more specific about all learning outcomes,” said Kevin Hovland, senior director of global learning and curricular change at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which hosted its first conference on “Global Learning” last week. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. A federal judge ruled Monday that the state of Maryland is perpetuating a segregated higher education system by permitting program duplication that discourages enrollments at historically black colleges. The judge ordered mediation on a possible solution that could include the addition of many programs at the state's four public historically black colleges and that could also result in significant changes at predominantly white institutions. "It is also likely that the transfer or merger of select high-demand programs from TWIs to HBIs will be necessary," wrote Judge Catherine C. Blake, using the acronyms for traditionally white and historically black institutions. Read more...

By Paul Fain. UniversityNow’s Patten University may be the first institution to successfully renew its regional accreditation while also voluntarily dropping out of federal financial aid programs. That move is one of several that make the Bay Area startup novel, or at least a new twist on emerging models in higher education. UniversityNow operates New Charter University and Patten, a former religious college in Oakland the company bought last year. The two sister institutions both offer competency-based degrees that are self-paced and online, but feature a relatively heavy dose of faculty support. Read more...

By Megan Rogers. Eight years ago, a national survey on adult literacy offered data on the extent to which Americans -- even those with college credentials -- were declining in their proficiency to do the basic kinds of reading people use in everyday life. The finding, published just as President Bush and his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, were cranking up a national commission on the state of higher education, was often cited as evidence of the failings of colleges and universities. A study released today could have a similar effect, because it not only questions Americans' literacy, but also taps into concerns in some quarters about the country's declining standing in the worl. Read more...

By Jack Grove for Times Higher Education. A  growing number of  master's programs are being offered in English, a study suggests. A total of 6,407 master’s programs in the language were offered on the Continent as of June of this year – a 38 percent rise over the 4,644 courses available just 18 months earlier, according to a report by the Institute of International Education. That total was 10 times higher than the overall number offered in 2002, says the report.  The study is based on course listings from the Study Portals website, which provided information from 1,200 public and private universities in mainland Europe. Programs in English account for almost a third of the 21,000 master’s courses advertised on the site in continental Europe, the report indicates. Read more...

By Elizabeth Redden and Paul Fain. Laureate Education is big. Like 800,000 students attending 78 institutions in 30 countries big. Yet the privately held for-profit university system has largely remained out of the public eye. That may be changing, however, as the company appears ready for its coming out party after 14 years of quiet growth. Laureate has spent heavily to solidify its head start on other globally minded American education providers. In addition to its rapid growth abroad, the company has courted publicity by investing in the much-hyped Coursera, a massive open online course provider. And Laureate recently made news when the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary, invested $150 million in the company -- its largest-ever investment in education. Read more...

By Paul Fain. A small group of California community colleges can now experiment with charging more for high-demand courses.
Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday signed a controversial law that will allow up to six colleges to give two-tiered tuition a try with extension courses in summer and winter terms. Officials at one of those institutions -- Long Beach City College -- said the college would participate in the voluntary pilot program. Read more...