BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL A hotly debated topic making the rounds in higher education now is whether American colleges and universities – public and private – face a round of mergers and acquisitions over the next several years. There are a number of reasons that the discussion of this topic had gained momentum. Tuition discount…
BY HANK REICHMAN On April 27, Queen Elizabeth II formally assented to the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, approved by Britain’s Conservative Parliament earlier in the year. The act accelerated the privatization of Britain’s higher education system, a process begun decades earlier and which in key respects mirrors American developments. The following comments on…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last week’s efforts that led to the passage by one vote of a House Republican proposal to change health care illustrates the deeper questions now bubbling up about what Americans demand of their government. The Republican-controlled Senate will now take up their version of a health care plan that is likely…
POSTED BY KELLY HAND Announcing the AAUP’s endorsement of the College for All Act introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Pramila Jayapal in April, AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum said “The College for All Act reaffirms our commitment to quality, public higher education as a right for all Americans. It would expand access to higher…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In a surprise move last week, Purdue University announced its intention to acquire for-profit Kaplan University. If approved, Purdue will become a major player in online education. Its president, former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, described the takeover as a “third dimension” to Purdue, adding Kaplan to its research flagship and regional…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Community colleges are the entry point to higher education for millions of Americans, but, according to Inside Higher Education’s 2017 Survey of Community College Presidents, their leaders report significant enrollment challenges and precarious financial support. Six in 10 of the 236 community college presidents reported a decline in enrollment over the…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Everyone knows that money plays a major role in students’ college enrollment decisions. How big a role? According to a recent study by Royall & Co., the enrollment management and alumni fundraising arm of EAB, “almost one-fifth of students who were admitted to their top choice of college or university in…
BY AARON BARLOW Will New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s “free” college tuition plan have much positive impact on the City University of New York (CUNY), the massive system where I teach? I doubt it; it’s really not much more than repackaging of programs already in existence. And, as David Brooks points out in The New…
BY THE NORTH CAROLINA AAUP CONFERENCE The following is, first, a press release from the North Carolina AAUP followed by the vision statement itself: Boone, NC/Chapel Hill, NC March 9, 2017 The state conference of the leading professional organization of American college professors has released a vision statement entitled “Reclaiming Higher Education for All North Carolinians”…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Many of us in higher education have long been proponents of “laboratory” initiatives in the humanities, social sciences, professional and graduate programs that translate academic learning into real world experience. These initiatives serve a variety of purposes. They make critical inquiry more pragmatic. Most colleges and universities build their academic program…