Moody’s Predicts College Closures to Triple by 2017

Closure rates of small colleges and universities will triple in the coming years, and mergers will double. Those are the predictions of a Moody’s Investor Service report released Friday that highlights a persistent inability among small colleges to increase revenue, which could lead as many as 15 institutions a year to shut their doors for … Continue reading →

What Is the Point of College?

… [A]s higher education expands its reach, it’s increasingly hard to say what college is like and what college is for. In the United States, where I now teach, more than 17 million undergraduates will be enrolling in classes this fall. They will be passing through institutions small and large, public and private, two-year and … Continue reading →

Understanding Plagiarism in a Digital Age

Do your students have a hard time defining — and thus, perhaps, avoiding — plagiarism? They’re not alone. In a cut-and-paste world, examples of both intentional and unintentional plagiarism are everywhere. Here, for instance, are just a handful of cases that have made headlines in the last few years: Journalists, scientists, novelists and politicians have … Continue reading →

Want to Change The World? Start With Community Colleges

Community college is often perceived as the underdog in American higher education. Many are plagued by treacherous drop-out rates, poor teaching standards and dismal job prospects. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to graduate. But inside some of these institutions, revolution is stirring. A lack of opportunities for ordinary Americans is driving colleges to rebuild and … Continue reading →

How Will Education Be Different in 100 Years

A video from The Atlantic. At this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival, we asked a group of professors, engineers, and journalists how education will change in a century. “I mean, will you need to know knowledge?” asks the journalist Amanda Ripley. “Or will you just need to be an amazing processor of information and an analyst?” Other panelists include Pamela … Continue reading →

Obama Administration Calls for Limits on Testing in Schools

Faced with mounting and bipartisan opposition to increased and often highstakes testing in the nation’s public schools, the Obama administration declared Saturday that the push had gone too far, acknowledged its own role in the proliferation of tests, and urged schools to step back and make exams less onerous and more purposeful. Specifically, the administration … Continue reading →

How Much Do We Really Know About College

The link today goes to a video produced by the Washington Post and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It shows data that some in higher education are aware of, but students and others may not be. How Much Do We Really Know?

Why Danish Students Are Paid to go to College

When 23-year-old Danish engineering student Louis Moe Christoffersen arrived in Baltimore in late January for an exchange semester, he immediately noticed a difference: Everything was so much more expensive at U.S. colleges than at home. Since 1985, U.S. college costs have surged by about 500 percent, tuition fees keep rising, and even President Obama’s plan to make community colleges … Continue reading →