This morning I sat in on the OECD Institutional Management in Higher Education Conference in Paris listening to a panel on the need to do more with less in higher education. The illustrious panel included representatives of Open University, Cisco Systems, and others, and was moderated by my friend and colleague, Peter Smith of Kaplan Higher Education. Continue reading The Problem with Higher Education
My summer reading thus far has included the book Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling (a novel about the painting of the Sistine Chapel) and Bounce, a story of “the science of success.” The first one was simply to impress (not true; great book!!). The second has significant meaning to what we do in education. Today’s commentary focuses on some of the tenets of Matthew Syed’s Bounce. Continue reading Bounce!
Each year a growing level of national angst follows the publication of the USNWR rankings. Several other rankings also are published which attempt to measure various institutions, and not always in a positive light. In the future, as a result of federal legislation (HEOA 2008), there will be yet another ranking by sector referred to as “lists of shame,” which will depict the highest rankings by cost, net cost, and rate of increase in costs of postsecondary institutions. Continue reading Measuring Institutional Commitment to Serve Low-Income Families
Yesterday, Yahoo Finance posted an article on the worst-paying college degrees in 2010 (see below). Among them are education ($35,100 starting; $54,900 mid-career), special education, child and family studies, and social work. For those of you that follow the trends on return on investment from advanced degrees, the stable outcome of the past decade-plus is that only advanced degrees, such as law, medicine, and other professional levels, are beating inflation. BAs are holding steady, but anything else, including the now-vaulted associate degrees, are losing ground. Continue reading The Worst-Paying College Degrees
Early today, President Obama spoke at the National Urban League Annual Conference in Washington, DC. He used the platform to talk mostly about education and his Race to the Top (RTTT) agenda. Race to the Top is a $4 billion initiative of the Obama Administration to improve education in US schools by awarding states who undertake “ambitious yet achievable” plans for reform. In March 2010, Delaware and Tennessee were awarded the first RTTT funds, with Delaware receiving $100 million and Tennessee $500 million. On July 27th, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced an additional 18 states (plus the District of Columbia) to be in the running for an additional $3 billion in funds. Continue reading The Fierce Urgency of Now
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 