by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist In this morning’s InsideHigherEd.com, Emma Whitford writes about “A New Push to Create a 3-Year Degree Option.” In it, she quotes work by Penn Research Bob Zemsky and University of Minnesota researcher Lori Carrell on work they are doing on this issue. As Zemsky is quoted, “We did not ask people to commit to doing a three-year … Continue reading A Reconsideration of the Three-Year Degree
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist, Educational Policy Institute On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order that would allow the federal government to hire by merit rather than by degree. “Degree-based hiring is especially likely to exclude qualified candidates for jobs related to emerging technologies and those with weak connections between educational attainment and the skills or competencies required to perform them. … Continue reading Skills Versus Degrees: The Administration Got This One Right
by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute Alvin Toffler was one of the original futurists, beyond Scotsman Adam Smith, who, a few centuries before, was able to offer, in a tangible way, how economics worked via his “Wealth of Nations.” Toffler was able to view the transfer of culture and society from an industrial revolution to a knowledge society. Toffler passed … Continue reading The Learning World: A Tribute to Alvin Toffler
January 7, 2013 by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute Back in 2005, I wrote a piece for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation titled Is More Better? The Impact of Postsecondary Education on the Economic and Social Well-Being of American Society. The report concluded that college graduates receive higher wages, are more likely to be employed, and when unemployed, likely … Continue reading Eyes Wide Open: Pulling Back the Curtain on Jobs and Education
by Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute This week, Georgetown’s University’s Center on Education and the Workforce released “Weathering the Economic Storm.” The report makes an intuitive conclusion that the recent “recession hit those with less schooling disproportionately hard.” Data clearly support this conclusion. But the reason isn’t because they are less educated, per se. The reason is that those with higher levels of … Continue reading Do College Graduates Push High School Graduates out of the Economy?
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 