Standardized testing in K-12 education is a perennial hot button issue. Proponents feel that measuring knowledge in these rigid ways helps lift the entire educational system. Critics say the measurements do nothing but encourage “teach to the test” methods and narrow the scope of what instructors are able to teach if they want to have acceptable test results. These arguments are nothing new, but they are now seeing a new audience. More...
As back-to-school season arrives, thousands of students are bringing their own computers, smartphones, tablets and gaming systems, further testing colleges' network security. Increasingly, universities are looking at ways to enable greater accessibility while maintaining acceptable usage policy. Offering an easier, more flexible and cost-effective approach to network access control (NAC), institutions are deploying ForeScout CounterACT to gain complete visibility and control of every device and user connecting to the networks. More...
MyVoice and University of Toronto Scarborough AccessAbility Services today released the “College Life Pack”, a free-to-download vocabulary collection designed to help students with speech disabilities communicate on campus using MyVoice’s text-to-speech app, TalkRocket Go. The College Life Pack includes hundreds of phrases and pictures that make it easier to ask questions in a lecture, independently access campus facilities, and participate in social experiences. It also offers comprehensive vocabulary related to services on campus such as the registrar's office, disability services, and academic departments, making the learning environment easier to navigate. More...
Interested in exploring the rankings of these schools and others? Visit usnews.com on Sept. 10. Applying to college is a journey that involves finding the right school, submitting applications and then – if you're lucky – choosing among the acceptance letters and financial aid awards to find that place you'll call home for the next few years. To steer you in the right direction, U.S. News surveys colleges and universities each year and ranks nearly 1,400 of them in different categories according to our methodology. Here, we offer a sneak peek of the 2014 Best Colleges rankings. Read more...
By . Facing skeptical customers, declining enrollment, an antiquated financial model that is hemorrhaging money, and new kinds of low-cost competition, some U.S. universities and colleges may be going the way of the music and journalism industries.
Their predicament has become so bad that financial analysts, regulators and bond-rating agencies are beginning to warn that many colleges and universities could close.
“A growing percentage of our colleges and universities are in real financial trouble,” the financial consulting firm Bain & Company concluded in a report—one-third of them, to be exact, according to Bain, which found that these institutions’ operating costs are rising faster than revenues and investment returns can cover them. Suite...
By . Demonstrating critical thinking, problem-solving, scientific and quantitative reasoning skills, among others, to show employers that students are ready for the workforce, no matter what their major.
If you dreaded the SATs in high school, beware: A new post-collegiate exam might have you sweating this spring. The Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus (CLA+) presented by the Council for Aid to Education, a non-profit organization, seeks to test the critical thinking skills of college students. Read more...
By Eric Hoover. College officials often use colorful language when discussing U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of colleges. Over the years, I’ve heard the list described as “corrosive,” “immoral,” and “real evil.” Some of the other terms aren’t printable.
Naturally, those who publish rival rankings also have choice words for the Best Colleges guide. In a news release, Washington Monthly’s editor, Paul Glastris, described his own publication’s college rankings, just published on Monday, as an answer to U.S. News, which, he wrote, “relies on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige.” More...
By Rosanna Tamburri. New CCA report confirms Canada underperforms on most measures of business R&D, but it found pockets of success.
An expert panel report examining business investment in research and development acknowledged that a “disconnect” exists between Canada’s strong publicly funded research and development activities at postsecondary institutions and the country’s comparatively weak investment in industrial R&D. But it cautioned against redistributing resources from the former to the latter.
The report was prepared at the request of Industry Canada by a panel of 14 experts assembled by the Council of Canadian Academies, a non-profit group, and released Aug. 28.
The report, The State of Industrial R&D in Canada, noted that compared to other industrialized nations, Canada performs similar amounts of publicly funded research and development but significantly less business R&D. In 2010, Canada ranked seventh among OECD countries when it came to R&D spending in higher education and twice the rate of the U.S. But in terms of business R&D, it ranked 20th, with half the rate of investment as countries such as Finland and Sweden.
“It is not that Canada performs more R&D in the public sector than comparator jurisdictions but that Canada performs less R&D in the business sector,” it said. This implies that Canada needs public policies to encourage investment in business R&D but not a redistribution of resources away from publicly funded research activities. More...
By . A recent study in the Wall Street Journal revealed a high percentage of college graduates felt their college degree was unsuccessful in “training” them for their chosen career. The theme of the article was one of pessimism toward those who are in college. It seemed to be saying that degrees are becoming undesirable in the job market because of the lack of industry-specific training.
The article’s tone did not sit well with me. I may be in the minority, but I have never entertained the idea that my college degree would be nothing more than a job-training seminar. Furthermore, those who would entertain that idea may be missing the entire purpose of a four-year university degree. More...
By Tracy Mitrano. On August 20, Cornell sent out its annual copyright notice to students pursuant to the regulatory requirement in the Higher Education Opportunity Act. In the message, we always include an email whereby students with questions can communicate with me. The first year we sent out a notice -- long before the HEOA, in 2002 -- I was up most of the night answering questions! Since then, much has changed, and so I would approximate that it was more in the ballpark of about 30 queries this year, which can be clumped into about three issues. Staff will help me work up a FAQ for next year. Read more...
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