By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I read an interesting piece in The Atlantic titled “The Future of College?” about the Minerva Project, a new higher education offering by multi-millionaire Ben Nelson. Minerva has just started with their introductory class: 33 students. It does not sound like much, but it is a start. I do not know much about Minerva and I cannot find … Continue reading The Future Isn’t Here Yet
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I was running through some aged writings online the other day and came across a presentation I made on March 20, 2009 at the invitation of the European University Association (EUA) in one of my fav cities, Prague. I remember the convention being one of the most organized, academic-conferences I had been to, and I was invited to … Continue reading Facing Global Challenges: A European University Perspective
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute This morning I woke up to a New York Times article about an unemployed graduate of a for-profit institution. We’ve read many of these types of articles. Although they are mostly anecdotal, the sheer number of these articles, along with our unemployment data, assign more credibility to these writings. We know that … Continue reading Four Years Later: What Happens After College Graduation?
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute A recent article published by the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “Are Poor Families Really Paying Half Their Income at Elite Colleges?,” penned by Beckie Supiano and Soo Oh, reminded me of the old Gershwin tune, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” The graphic-based brief uses data from the University of Notre … Continue reading FM and IM—You Say Potato, I like Potahto: But We Can’t Call the Whole Thing Off
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist, Educational Policy Institute There seems to be renewed interest in the collection of student unit record in higher education. Back in 2008 during the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), a provision was added to the law that restricted the federal government from collecting student-based unit record data. This followed a multi-year dialogue about how … Continue reading The Return of “Huge” Data
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 