By Michael Stratford. President Obama’s push for a rating system for colleges and universities that would eventually influence how the federal government doles out student aid is the most ambitious higher education proposal of his administration. The last serious push to so significantly transform federal higher education policy came in 2006 under Bush administration Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. That year, a 19-member commission -- known as the Spellings Commission -- released a report on the future of higher education that called, broadly speaking, for the federal government to play a larger role in promoting accountability and transparency at colleges and universities. Read more...
07 septembre 2013
Margaret Spellings on Obama Plan
Marketing vs. Reality
By John Morgan for Times Higher Education. The cynics predicted that the creation of a market in higher education would lead to universities pointlessly splurging on marketing as competition for students increased.
But they reckoned without the "Challenger Lighthouse."
A paper titled “Developing a ‘Challenger’ Lighthouse Identity” was recently presented at the University of Essex’s governing council. Read more...
Transnational Ed Expands
By Elizabeth Redden. A new report from the British Council ranks countries according to how favorable their climates are for transnational higher education and evaluates the impact of cross-border education on host countries. Over all, the report finds that transnational education is ”continuing to expand at a brisk pace; both in terms of scale -- programs and student enrollment -- and scope -- diversity of delivery modes and location of delivery.”
Among the various forms of transnational higher education included within the scope of the report are international branch campuses, franchise or twinning programs (in which a sending university authorizes a host institution to deliver its curriculum), joint or double degree programs, and articulation agreements (e.g., 2+2 programs).The report does not cover distance education. Read more...
What’s missing from education policy debate
By Valerie Strauss. Reformers and policymakers talk a lot about how to recruit teachers with higher GPAs, higher standards, better standardized tests, big data and more. In this post, Jack Schneider, an assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., writes about something critical that gets ignored in these conversations. Schneider is a former high school teacher and the founder of University Paideia, a pre-college program for under-served students in the San Francisco Bay Area. His research focuses on educational policymaking and school reform in the 20th century. Schneider is the author of “Excellence For All: How a New Breed of Reformers Is Transforming America’s Public Schools” and is working on a new book about scholarship in education. He tweets @Edu_Historian. Read more...
If you’re talking about ‘college and career ready’
By Valerie Strauss. Context: Budget troubles have led some school districts to either reduce the number of counselors or completely eliminate them, leaving schools without professionals who, at their best, help students in every part of their lives —academics, social/emotional development, college admissions, career planning, anti-bullying, etc. Read more...
Back to school: It’s worse than you think
By Valerie Strauss. Philadelphia public schools are opening for the new school year on Monday without many of the basics any reasonable person would expect.
Paper, for example. Guidance counselors. Nurses. Amid an agonizing financial and leadership crisis, the appointed School Reform Commission, which has run the district since the state took it over a dozen years ago, passed a “doomsday” budget this past summer that included cuts so drastic there was no money for schools to open this fall with funding for things such as paper, new books, athletics, arts, music, counselors, assistant principals and more. Teachers were laid off. This came after the closure of a few dozen schools. Read more...
Foreign students 'given more choice of courses at UK universities'
By Graeme Paton. Universities are operating a two-tier clearing system by accepting applications from high-paying foreign students while closing courses to British candidates, it emerged last night. Research by the Telegraph found that overseas students can currently choose from 15 per cent more degree courses at British universities than applicants from the UK.
Some leading institutions have stopped accepting applications from home students altogether while allowing those from abroad to take their pick from hundreds of different disciplines such as law, engineering, chemistry, biology, physics and geography. Under Government rules, universities can take unlimited numbers of self-funding foreign students but state-subsidised places for UK undergraduates are capped. Students from outside Europe can be charged far higher fees – with medical degrees costing up to £35,000-a-year – but British students pay a maximum of £9,000. Read more...
Is 'posh-bashing' the last acceptable form of prejudice at university?
By Eleanor Doughty. Undergraduate, Eleanor Doughty asks why being 'poshist' is still acceptable at university and why those from ‘privileged’ backgrounds – a relative concept in itself – are expected to take it lying down. In my first week of university, I was lambasted for saying ‘Barth’. ‘Oh, you’re posh,’ said a peer. 'For saying Barth?’ I queried. I was taken aback. Not for a moment would I have called someone whatever the opposite of ‘posh’ is, so early on. I could have been from anywhere, any school or background. People were quick to judge. Read more...
Business skills for the future
By Katie Forster. Graduates of LSBU's MSc in Business Project Management will be armed with the real-world skills to make them sought after in the business world, or further their career with their current employer. In response to graduates looking to diversify and consolidate their workplace skills, London South Bank University (LSBU) is offering a new flexible learning masters course that increases employability – and that could eventually rival the more traditional MBA. More...
Joint honours degrees: double the trouble?
By Evelyn Robinson. Studying a joint honours degree at university might mean twice the work, but the experience is enriching. When I applied for my joint honours degree in English and history, I thought it would help me stand out from the crowd once it came to finding a job. More...
