International
Higher education loan fiasco sets $185bn time bomb | The Turnbull government admitted the risk from “ballooning” costs in higher education as politicians blamed each other for policies that will deepen the deficit while lumbering young Australians with bigger personal loans.
Simon Birmingham promises more details of higher education changes before polls | [Australian] Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham says more details of the Government’s higher education policy will be unveiled before the election, as he recommits to de-regulating the sector.
Effectiveness, Defined Broadly | New volume of research examines various aspects of higher education performance, going well beyond labor market outcomes to include academic quality and socioeconomic equity.
President Higgins: Universities facing ‘intellectual crisis’ | Universities are under increasing pressure to produce graduates solely for the labour market and face an “intellectual crisis” over their role in society, President Michael D Higgins has said.
U.S. National
Unionizing Pays Big Dividend for Professors at Regional Public Universities | Full-time instructors at regional public universities earn an average of about $21,000, or nearly 25 percent, more in pay and benefits annually if they belong to a union, concludes a groundbreaking new study of compensation at such institutions.
The Shrinking Ph.D. Job Market | As number of new Ph.D.s rises, the percentage of people earning a doctorate without a job waiting for them is up. While all disciplines face the problem, some have particularly high debt levels.
Management-Based Regulation of Higher Education | Although states have sometimes been more prescriptive of the methods and processes by which institutions (particularly public higher education institutions) must operate, in general higher education institutions have been given the flexibility to set their own goals and to determine the methods by which they will achieve them.
Education Department Drafts Standards for Accreditors | The Obama administration is proposing new standards that govern how and when college accreditors have to alert the U.S. Department of Education about troubled institutions under the accreditors’ purview.
Crisis Averted? | Low-income and nondependent students have been protected from state disinvestment in higher education during the last two decades because of increasing federal aid spending, a new study finds.
What’s Really Wrong With College Today? | Scare stories about skyrocketing tuition and worthless degrees distract attention from the true problems, these former college presidents say.
U.S. States
Can a new president fix one of N.J.’s most expensive colleges? | Just weeks into his new job as Rider University president last year, Gregory Dell’Omo hinted life was about to get turbulent at the 150-year-old school.
Community leaders explore ways to expand access to public higher education | In a panel discussion, Hung introduced an initiative called “College for All,” which has a five-pillar platform: reinvesting in education, expanding enrollment slots in University of California and California State University systems for eligible California students, promoting the success of the highest need students at the highest need schools with local control funding formula plus (LCFF+), addressing implicit bias in all schools (including against LGBTQ students and others), and opposing all caps and quotas on admission and enrollment.
Gaming the Formula | State performance funding formulas lead to small decline in Pell revenue per student, new study finds, suggesting public colleges may be gaming formulas by enrolling fewer low-income students.
UT System to state officials: Tuition increases won’t affect affordability | The UT System responded Thursday to a request from top state officials asking for information on student debt, college loan affordability and college completion rates.
Evidence of Remediation Success | Two studies show successful pass rates from Tennessee’s first full semester of putting all developmental students in college-level courses.
Idaho might give colleges money based on student success | The Idaho State Board of Education is drafting a proposal that could go to next year’s Legislature that would be the state’s foray into spreading out dollars among eight public institutions based on how well they further the state’s higher education goals, such as increasing the number of graduates.
Institutional
Institutional Assessment and GEP Need Improvement, Middle States Self Study Says | Although substantial progress has been made in most areas since the last time Frostburg State University went through re-acceditation, several areas need improvement, including institutional assessment and the General Education Program (GEP).
Affirming the Student Success Underground | Nearly every college and university in America has refocused its attention on “student success.” Like many institutions, Cleveland State University, where I work, has erected an entire enterprise devoted to this endeavor.
North Dakota University System Launches Cloud-Based Strategic Planning Solution to Improve Institutional Effectiveness for State’s 11 Campuses | North Dakota University System administrators deploy an innovative strategic planning solution to promote a better, more collaborative strategic planning process with a shared understanding of common goals across the entire university system.
U. of Phoenix Will Lay Off 470 Employees | The University of Phoenix is laying off 470 employees, nearly 8 percent of its work force, reports KTVK, a television station in Phoenix.
Colleges, Universities Traveling Different Paths to Diversity | Diversity, once primarily measured by ethnicity and gender, is today taking on a richer meaning at institutions across the nation as even the word “diverse” is being redefined by the emerging generation of college students and graduates, not just administrators and gatekeepers.
Note: Published on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.