By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I like Mike Rowe. Rowe, the host of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs and the new CNN program, Somebody’s Gotta Do It, is a complex guy. A former opera singer (really) and host for QVC (has great stories about Joan Rivers), Rowe has become an outspoken proponent for the blue collar jobs and workers in … Continue reading What Does Mike Rowe know about College?
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 & CEO, Educational Policy Institute This morning, the President and First Lady spoke at the White House Summit on College Opportunity. This was their bully pulpit push to expand postsecondary opportunity, especially to low-income and first-generation students. First Lady Michele Obama spoke about the “limitless capacity” that lies in our young people and reminded us that education is a two-way … Continue reading A White House Summit on College Opportunity
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 