As students are pushed to attend college more than ever before, many of them are beginning to push back. Many students struggle with that predetermined outcome of their lives and have become more open to other options such as vocational education or trade schools. For people with some college or an associate degree, the unemployment … Continue reading “Did You Know? Trade Schools Showing Strong Enrollment Growth”
Politicos and pundits praise American universities for their entrepreneurialism. Founders of tech companies get honorary degrees and give commencement speeches. Student orientations include sessions bragging about the startup resources students have on campus. Schools even create “entrepreneurship” majors and entrepreneurship centers within their business schools. But how much of that startup acumen is rhetoric and … Continue reading “The Myth of the Entrepreneurial University”
Researchers have been grumbling about the state of scientific publishing for years. Now, rumor has it that the Trump administration (yes, those science-haters!) may be trying to fix at least one problem: access to reports of government-funded research. The rumored proposal will require free, immediate access to all reports of government-funded scientific research. The rumor … Continue reading “The Mess That Is Science Publishing”
Every college student knows that, once they graduate, landing the job of their dreams isn’t going to just happen. Yet, students still downplay the difficulties they will face, either because they don’t understand the job market or because they put too much stock in their skills, thinking that the competition won’t stand a chance. The … Continue reading “The Job Skills Students Need That Colleges Don’t Teach”
It would be easy to conclude, after a quick look at some topline findings about higher education in recent years, that a set of misguided practices and policies has distorted college enrollment, completion, and costs. For example, a well-meaning college-for-all movement directed students into four-year institutions, but many of these young people were unprepared for … Continue reading “A New-Schools Strategy to Fix Higher Education”
In the past few years, large public universities have garnered headlines by freezing tuition. Purdue University, the Pennsylvania State System, and every public four-year university in Virginia have all frozen tuition and fees. And three University of North Carolina schools—UNC Pembroke, Western Carolina University, and Elizabeth City State University—have cut tuition to $500 per semester … Continue reading “Cutting Tuition Prices So Students Can Borrow Less”
In recent years, psychology has dealt with a legitimacy crisis. Many influential psychological studies could not be reproduced by other psychologists, discrediting some key insights and weakening academic faith in the entire field. Nutrition science has a similar problem. The loudest critics argue that the methodologies relied on by researchers give bad data that are … Continue reading “The Credibility Issue in Nutrition Science Is a Sign for All of Higher Ed”
We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. —Abraham Lincoln A certain degree of polarization is a natural consequence of political discourse. The … Continue reading “Healing Civic Culture One Conversation at a Time”
Nationwide, higher education enrollment has been trending down for several years. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2019 was the eighth straight year of decline, with an overall drop of nearly 10 percent since 2011. The reasons for this are many, including political, economic, and social factors. But the main one is demographic: Fewer … Continue reading “How Colleges Can Survive the Coming Enrollment Crash”
This essay responds to the British architecture schools’ “Open Letter to the Architectural Community: A Call for Curriculum Change.” Since educating architects is a global problem, the analysis presented here is aimed at an international audience. We are at a pivotal point in recognizing the relationship between the built and natural environments and human health … Continue reading “Architecture Programs Need a Change: Put People First—Not ‘Art’”