By David Matthews, . A clutch of professors have been knighted while the former head of Loughborough University is among those made a dame in the New Year’s Honours. Shirley Pearce, who is being recognised for “services to higher education”, was vice-chancellor at the institution from 2006 to 2012, and since 2009 has been a board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. She is also the current chair of the College of Policing.
Others who have been made dames include Frances Kirwan, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford and Pamela Shaw, professor of neurology at the University of Sheffield. More...
We Are Creating Walmarts of Higher Education
By . As colleges feel pressure to graduate more students for less money, professors worry that the value of an education may be diminished.
Universities in South Dakota, Nebraska, and other states have cut the number of credits students need to graduate. A proposal in Florida would let online courses forgo the usual higher-education accreditation process. A California legislator introduced a measure that would have substituted online courses for some of the brick-and-mortar kind at public universities. More...