Formation Continue du Supérieur

Degree programs that award students credit by assessing their skills – rather than making them pass courses – have been touted by the Obama administration, members of Congress and many in higher education as a promising new innovation. But the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General this week threw some cold water on the enthusiasm for that model, known as direct assessment, criticizing how officials have allowed the first handful of programs of that type to become eligible for federal funding. Read more...

Anti-sexism group UltraViolet is targeting students who attend the 79 institutions listed by the U.S. Department of Education as under investigation for violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 with two online video ads, including one that mimics retro pornography. Read more...

A federal court on Thursday ruled that the Obama administration had again failed to adequately justify its ban on colleges paying recruiters bonuses that are tied to students' graduation. The court also faulted the Department of Education for not properly addressing the effect the rule may have on minority students. Read more...

By Nate Kreuter. Sometimes we are overwhelmed. The forces of life converge, place us in a bind, and restrict our ability to do our jobs. We’ve all watched it happen to a friend or colleague. Perhaps many of us have experienced it for ourselves. In these moments, our work life can become secondary, and probably should become secondary in many cases. Read more...

By William Bradley. Recently, I have had two sources of stress in my life. One was the knowledge that my visiting assistant professor appointment at my alma mater, St. Lawrence University, is coming to a close, necessitating my return to the academic job market. Read more...

By Christine Kelly. I attended a conference recently and stayed at a hotel that required me to take a shuttle to get to my events. On my first shuttle ride back to the hotel I chatted with another hotel guest who was attending a different conference and also not staying at his conference hotel. We chatted about a variety of things before we got to that pivotal point where I was very glad I chose this particular hotel. Read more...

By Scott McLemee. In 2009, the Cornell Law Review published an article called “The Anti-Corruption Principle” by Zephyr Teachout, then a visiting assistant professor of law at Duke University. In it she maintained that that the framers of the U.S. Constitution were “obsessed” (that was Teachout’s word) with the dangers of political corruption – bribery, cronyism, patronage, the making of laws designed to benefit a few at the expense of public well-being, and so on. Read more...

By Johann Neem. Georgetown University recently announced plans for an English Ph.D. tailored to non-university careers, reflecting ongoing deliberations within the Modern Language Association about what to do about the anemic employment market. Read more...

By Frances Mechan-Schmidt for Times Higher Education. Students in Germany will be eligible for significantly improved benefits and subsidies from the start of the 2016-17 academic year. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. The Pell Grant program, once a powerful tool for promoting low-income access in higher education, has lost its luster. That’s the conclusion of a new report -- "Beyond Pell: A Next-Generation Design for Federal Financial Aid" -- that was published Thursday by the Education Trust, New America Foundation, and Young Invincibles. Read more...