By Michelle Chen. Saddling students with unsustainable debts is only a symptom of the deeper erosion within higher education. The student debt crisis – currently the subject of executive orders, pending Senate legislation, protests and much boomer hand-wringing – is more accurately an education cost crisis. More...

By Robert Segal. The universities minister has called for degree courses to have a major and minor option. But the UK could benefit from adopting other aspects of the US system, says Robert Segal. I am finishing my 20th year of teaching in the UK. I came to Lancaster University from my native US in 1994, and in 2006 I left Lancaster for the University of Aberdeen. I was born, raised, and educated in the US. But by now I think I fathom the very different UK conventions. David Willetts, the universities minister, is encouraging UK universities to introduce the US custom of having both a major subject, which can be anything, and a minor one, which can be anything else. A handful of universities have already adopted the approach, and Willetts is anxious to keep British students from leaving the UK for a more flexible degree in the US. More...

Par le collectif Resau. Une réforme à l'aspect vertueux induite par la dernière loi sur l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche (ESR), votée le 22 juillet 2013, fédère aujourd'hui contre elle un large front qui transcende les clivages politiques. Selon l'interprétation du ministère, il s'agit de simplifier le mille-feuille hiérarchique, de créer une trentaine d'universités de stature internationale regroupant toutes les disciplines, de favoriser la coopération scientifique, et ce en laissant toute liberté d'organisation aux communautés universitaires.
Mais une réforme peut en cacher une autre. Sous couvert de simplification, le ministère promeut la création de communautés d'universités et d'établissements (Comué) qui, à l'opposé des objectifs initiaux, viennent épaissir le mille-feuille universitaire de nouvelles couches administratives dysfonctionnelles. Suite...