UA announces partnership with universities in Brazil
The UA will be teaming up with Brazil this year as part of an international program aimed to boost cooperation with higher education institutions in the country.
The International Academic Partnership Program, created by the Institute of International Education, helps facilitate partnerships between U.S. universities and higher education institutions in emerging countries – such as Brazil, India and China. The UA is one of 16 U.S. institutions chosen for the Brazil program. More...
Twice as many institutions as previously reported have no online courses
By Phil Hill. Recently I pointed out that the widely-quoted Babson survey on online learning estimates 7.1 million US higher ed students taking at least one online course while the new IPEDS data indicates the number as 5.5 million. After looking deeper at the data, it appears that the difference in institutions (whether or not an institution offers any online courses) is even greater than the difference in students. This institutional profile is important, as the Babson report (p. 13) noted that institutions offering no online courses had very different answers than others, a theme that ran through much of the report. More...
Gen Ed and Competency-Based Education
By Michael Feldstein. Inside Higher Ed has a write-up today on an effort by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) to develop a competency-based framework for general education called General Education Maps and Markers (GEMs), funded by a multi-million-dollar Gates Foundation grant. I am honored to report that I have been invited to participate on one of the GEMs committees. More...
Why Are American Colleges Obsessed With 'Leadership'? What's wrong with being a follower? Or a lone wolf?
By . Earlier this month, more than 700,000 students submitted the Common Application for college admissions. They sent along academic transcripts and SAT scores, along with attestations of athletic or artistic success and—largely uniform—bodies of evidence speaking to more nebulously-defined characteristics: qualities like—to quote the Harvard admissions website—“maturity, character, leadership, self-confidence, warmth of personality, sense of humor, energy, concern for others and grace under pressure.”
Why are American colleges so interested in leadership? On the Harvard admissions website quoted above, leadership is listed third: just after two more self-evident qualities. More...
California Policy Group Calls for a New State Higher-Ed Coordinating Agency
The President Should Attack Out-of-Control College Costs
By Charles D. Ellison. A White House college event was an opportunity to confront college administrators about rising tuition costs.
Seeking a reprieve from Republicans, Edward Snowden and the website that couldn’t, President Obama and the first lady held a feel-good event to push the issue of expanding college opportunity. There were lots of smiles, bucket-loads of remarks on heavy policy lifts and the sense that the White House would do its best to guarantee no child—at least none of those lucky enough to graduate from high school—would be left behind. More...
College try: Opportunity knocks for low-income students
When college costs rise, everyone is hurt. But the bigger price tag takes a particular toll on students from low-income families.
For them it means more than digging deeper to pay for higher education. It can mean opportunity lost, once and for all.
The College Board reports that the average cost of a year’s tuition, housing and meals in 2013-14 is $18,393 per student at a public college or university and $40,924 at a private institution. No wonder college students these days graduate with an average debt of $29,400. Read more...
Initiative to boost college success among low-income students
At the White House Summit on College Opportunity today, College Summit unveiled a new initiative that provides business with a strong, structured role in increasing the number of low-income high school students getting to and through college. Barry Salzberg, Global CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), led a delegation of business leaders representing Walmart (NYSE: WMT), AT&T (NYSE: T), Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) and Mutual of America, and outlined the commitment of these companies to ScholarJob, a collaboration with College Summit that provides high school students with the pathways they need to take through high school and college to start their career. Salzberg encouraged corporate America to join the ScholarJob initiative and strengthen U.S. competitiveness and communities by developing the talent of all kids. More...
Higher education should be getting more state money
State Treasurer John Kennedy has made some good suggestions for better allocating scarce state money.
Kennedy has proposed a plan by which state government agencies would be required to cut the money spent on consulting contracts by 10 percent.
The cuts would not be across-the-board. Instead, each department would be able to identify the contracts and expenses it could cut.
The overall effect would be a savings of more than $500 million, money that under Kennedy’s plan would be devoted to the state’s higher education. More...