By Andy Thomason. A survey of students on nine campuses found that 21 percent of female undergraduates reported having been sexually assaulted since starting college. On one campus, that proportion was 38 percent. More...
Yahoo Releases Vast Amount of Data to University Researchers
By Andy Thomason. The Internet giant Yahoo Inc. will release a vast amount of data about how its users behave on the web exclusively to university researchers, The Wall Street Journal reports. The data amount to 13.5 terabytes, which, the Journal notes, is two-thirds the size of the Library of Congress. More...
Transfer System From 2-Year to 4-Year Colleges Isn’t Working, Report Says
By Katherine Mangan. Only 14 percent of the students who start out in a community college transfer to a four-year university and earn a bachelor’s degree within six years, according to a report released on Tuesday by three groups that are studying ways to plug the leaky pipeline between two- and four-year colleges. More...
Obama Calls for Pell Grant Changes to Accelerate Progress Toward Degrees
By Charles Huckabee. To help students make quicker progress toward earning degrees, the Obama administration is calling for a significant expansion of the Pell Grant program that would make the grants available year-round and reward students who take a full schedule of courses each semester. More...
American Student Is Among Detainees Released by Iran
By Andrew Mytelka. An American who had traveled to Iran to study language was among the detainees released this weekend, although officials said his release was not part of a broad prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran, according to The New York Times, the Associated Press, and other reports. More...
You Won the Powerball. How Many of Higher Ed’s Problems Can You Solve?
By Rio Fernandes. If you missed the Great Lottery Craze of 2016, news broke overnight that three Powerball winning tickets for the $1.568-billion prize were sold to some very lucky people. More...
Colleges Are Cutting Their Carbon Emissions. Energy Use? Not So Much.
By Rio Fernandes. Carbon emissions per square foot of building space have declined by 13 percent since 2007 at 343 American colleges and universities, says a report released on Wednesday. More...
Controversial Community-College Accreditor Was Noncompliant, Education Secretary Affirms
By Andy Thomason. The acting U.S. secretary of education, John B. King Jr., has upheld two findings of noncompliance against the agency that tried to strip City College of San Francisco of its accreditation. The San Francisco Examiner reports that Mr. King ruled on Monday that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges was in violation of two federal criteria needed to accredit community colleges. More...
Instructors, What’s the Oddest Thing You’ve Seen a Student Looking At in Class?
By Andy Thomason. Personally, I don’t think his choice of photo is all that weird. Take a trip through any college student’s browser history (God help you), and I think you’d find some good Google Image searches. More...
Public Colleges Lead in Adopting Competency-Based Programs
By Chronicle Staff. Report: “Survey of the Shared Design Elements and Emerging Practices of Competency-Based Education Programs”
Organization: Public Agenda
Summary: Competency-based education, which measures students’ progress according to how well they master material instead of how much time they spend in class, has been growing in popularity. More...