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By Shaun Curran. The concept of higher education institutions becoming business enterprises is not new. This idea has prevailed for years at for-profit institutions with mixed results. There are those who argue — correctly — that without the existence of capitalism, or some form of business model, higher education institutions as they stand today would not be possible; the downside of these business practices is that they have the potential to turn legitimate higher education institutions into degree mills — and change education itself into a commodity. More...

By Phillip Mixon. In the field of economics, the term “competitive advantage” means you have the lowest opportunity cost of providing a good or service. Opportunity cost is simply defined as what you give up in order to complete an action. Competitive advantage should have the same definition in the higher education world. For example, a top engineering school shouldn’t begin a new program in ancient Greek biblical interpretation, especially if the program already exists at a nearby institution. The competitive advantage of the engineering department is to produce high-quality engineers. More...

By Terry Rawls. Time is the challenge of the busy professional. If you’re like me, with a to-do list that’s longer than your arm and never enough time to put a dent in it, you know exactly what I mean. I frequently tell myself that life used to be slower and simpler. And while technology has certainly changed the world of work, let’s face it; we’ve always been too busy. More...

By Peter Stokes. They said 2012 was the Year of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). It’s little surprise, then, that 2013 turned out to be the Year of the Backlash.
If last year was a tough one for MOOCs and their various stakeholders — the platform companies, faculty members and sundry market cheerleaders — it can only have been a consequence of the absurd expectations for MOOCs, both as an agent of change and as a harbinger of educational doom. More...

By Chris Good. It would be a cultural shift, but the Obama administration is hoping to change the perception of two- and four-year universities and what is needed for success. Through two new skills-training programs, utilizing grant money announced in 2010, the administration is encouraging a competition to foster courses developed by industry at the community college level and an apprentice job scholarship program. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden appeared at a community college in Pittsburgh today to announce $500 million in grant funding for community college job-training programs and $100 million in funding for apprenticeship grants. More...

By Jennifer Conlin. In January, residents here learned the news that the senior place-kicker for the University of Michigan’s football team had been permanently “separated” from the college for violating its student sexual misconduct policy. In addition, the violation, what the authorities said was a sexual assault, occurred in 2009, when the kicker was a freshman, and his punishment was not determined until his athletic career had ended this past winter.
The article describing all of this, based on documents reviewed by two reporters, stated, “It’s unclear why sanctions were not decided in this matter until recently.” More...

By Rebecca Schuman. First I have to figure out what it is. It’s no secret that the humanities—literature, history, philosophy, the foreign languages— are suffering from a precipitous plummet in higher education. But hark! Digital humanities are here to rescue the field—or maybe just kill it off for good. More...

By Carl Soder. Methods of handling student cost of enrollment, faculty compensation and new sources of revenue, among other concerns, were addressed at an open forum led by Ohio University budget executives Tuesday in Baker University Ballroom. With the audience comprised mostly of faculty and budget executives, OU budget director Chad Mitchell detailed different budget scenarios varying in percent of tuition growth. Associate Provost for Budget and Academic Planning John Day summarized investment choices as well as future budget estimations on debt and compensation. More...

The public colleges and universities that educate more than 70 percent of this country’s students were burdened by rising costs and dwindling state revenues long before the recession. They reacted by raising tuition, slashing course offerings and, sometimes, by cutting enrollment.
They also cut labor costs by replacing full-time professors who retired with part-time instructors, who typically have no health or pension benefits and are often abysmally paid, earning in the vicinity of $3,000 per course. More...