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By Gregory Ferenstein. California’s radical experiment in massively open online courses (MOOCs) is not so radical anymore. San Jose State University will scale back the number of purely online courses and restrict them to enrolled students. “The goal right now is to focus on providing access to all CSU [California State University] students, including SJSU students,” San Jose State University spokesperson Patricia Harris said to me in an email. More...

By Hayleigh Colombo. Purdue University is partnering with Gallup, the global polling and consulting organization, in the name of higher education accountability. 
The organizations are calling the new joint venture announced the Gallup-Purdue Index, which they say will facilitate the “largest representative study of college graduates in U.S. history.” The index aims to create a national benchmark that evaluates the long-term success of graduates, measured by indicators including career and life satisfaction. More...

By Karen Seidman. Université Laval says Quebec universities will be forced to slash their operating budgets for a third consecutive year and that the budget cuts are starting to compromise the university’s mission and threaten programs that rely on getting accreditation.
The rector of Université Laval, Denis Brière, called on Higher Education Minister Pierre Duchesne to keep his promise to reinvest in Quebec universities without further cuts.
Brière said universities are being asked to tighten their belts by trimming $123 million in spending, which amounts to $18 million for Laval. More...

By Jonathan Charlton. The U of S English department has joined the chorus of academic voices calling for the end of indigenous-themed mascots.
At a December 11 faculty meeting, the department passed a motion reading, in part, “when prejudicial caricatures of indigenous people have institutional power behind them, this situation compromises the ability of a society to hear and see indigenous people’s self-representations.”
The departments of native studies and educational foundations have already passed similar resolutions, joined most recently by the archeology department. More...

By David Crosier and Andrea Puhl. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach – George Bernard Shaw

Being a teacher is easy, isn't it? After all, teachers enjoy generous holidays, few contact hours at school, flexible working conditions, an enviable work/life balance and they get additional benefits, incentives and rewards. On top of that, teachers’ salaries are quite good compared to other professions. At least, that's a common stereotype held by people who are not teachers. But if a teacher’s life were so perfect, why are many European countries facing enormous teacher shortages? And why are so few higher education students enrolling in teacher education programmes?

Rhetoric about the vital role that teachers play in society is never difficult to find. Who doesn't agree on the importance of high quality education, and who would question that educational quality is directly linked to excellent teaching? Yet in recent years, the education and training field in Europe has recorded the most significant fall in tertiary graduate rates compared to other disciplines according to Eurydice’s Key Data on Education in Europe. Why is this? Could it be that salary prospects do not reflect the 'vital' role of teachers? And are other factors negatively affecting the attraction of teaching careers?

While teachers' salaries vary greatly across European countries, the new Eurydice Teacher’s and School Heads’ Salaries report shows that primary and secondary teachers' entrance level statutory salaries are lower than national per capita GDP in most European countries. In other words, salaries rank low when taking into account the general standard of living – a fact that can hardly attract young people to the profession. More...