By Judith Shapiro. It should not be controversial to believe that growing up involves becoming stronger, becoming better able to withstand whatever slings and arrows life throws at us and to pursue our goals even against difficult challenges. Surely the college years can and should play an important role in that growing-up process. Read more...

By Holly Else for Times Higher Education. Universities should have a “proper dialogue” with Ph.D. students from the start about the fact that they are “not walking into a job for life.”
That is the view of Dame Athene Donald, head of a Royal Society working group that has published new guidelines about doctoral candidate development. Read more...

By Elizabeth Redden. Wednesday’s announcement by the White House that the U.S. will re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba will have implications for further expanding academic travel to the island nation. Read more...

By Paul Fain. Linda Suskie knows the accreditation process. She has seen it from both sides during her four-decade career in higher education, which has included stints as a university administrator and as a vice president at a regional accrediting agency. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. When it comes to first-year writing courses, how many sections are too many for one instructor to teach? Full-time, non-tenure-track faculty members at Arizona State University say five per semester, and they’re protesting their department’s plan to increase their teaching load to that number (up from four) each term, starting next fall. They say they’re worried the service work they’ll give up in exchange for the extra course won’t be taken up by tenure-line faculty, and that they won’t be able to give needy students the same level of attention. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. American higher education today looks nothing like it did a few generations ago, let alone at the founding of the country. A new book, The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture From the Founding to World War II (Princeton University Press), explores how colleges evolved. The author is Roger L. Geiger, who is distinguished professor of higher education at Pennsylvania State University. Read more...

By Kaitlin Mulhere. “Day After Debt: A Call for Student Loan Relief" is about the demand for higher education, the related growth in student debt and the pressures that puts on graduates. The exhibit opened last month at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and is presented in cooperation with the art organization Protocinema. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. After nearly a year and a half of public debate over its proposed college ratings, the Obama administration on Friday provided the first glimpse into how it will structure such a system, including the criteria it will use to judge colleges. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. The U.S. Department of Education published just a handful of pages of information, much of which underscores what officials have been saying publicly for months. There are, however, some new details about how the administration plans to approach the ratings. And the department released an expanded version on Friday. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. As the U.S. Department of Education manages an increasingly larger portfolio of federal student loans, officials at the agency lack a coordinated plan for preventing borrowers from defaulting, the department’s independent watchdog said Friday. Read more...