January 27, 2014
Geochemist and former NASA official Laurie Leshin was named the first woman president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, effective July 1. She succeeds Dennis D. Berkey, who had been president for nine years until retiring in May. The national public policy group Demos promoted its vice president of policy and outreach, Heather McGhee, to be its next president, effective March 10....
January 21, 2014
Obama speaks on college access. President Obama announced a new initiative aimed at increasing low-income students' access to higher education that relies on commitments from states, universities, nonprofit organizations and businesses. The Obama administration unveiled more than 100 commitments from colleges and universities and millions of dollars in philanthropic donations aimed at helping more low-income students attend and complete college....
January 21, 2014
The cost and the value of higher education, the short- and long-term impact of student debt, the role of career preparation, and accountability for student outcomes are the subject of intense and increasing examination and debate. Every higher education professional I know is acutely aware of shifting demographic and business models in our industry, and the need to explicitly provide, and show,...
January 17, 2014
NEBHE's Trends & Indicators features an updated section on Demography. • Nearly 70% of New England residents in 2010 were born in the region, down from a peak of 77% in 1950. By 2010, nearly 17% of New England's population was born elsewhere in the U.S. People born in foreign countries accounted for the remaining 14% of total population. •...
January 13, 2014
The New England Board of Higher Education's (NEBHE) Problem Based Learning (PBL) Projects team is pleased to announce the launch of a new website combining the Advanced Manufacturing PBL, STEM PBL, and PHOTON PBL projects with their industry-based case studies called Challenges into one comprehensive website. The Advanced Manufacturing PBL, STEM PBL and PHOTON PBL projects remain accessible via NEBHE's...
January 13, 2014
Harkin releases 2014 priorities. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the retiring chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, told the Washington Post that his New Year's resolutions were his minimum wage and early education bills. Enrollment report. The U.S. Department of Education released a report on enrollment and graduation rates in higher education institutions in the fall...
January 13, 2014
Presidents, trustees and senior administrators at New England colleges and universities all feel the pressures: keep tuition down, be competitive academically and make sure the physical campus draws talent from a shrinking pool of traditional high school graduates and new nontraditional students. Given resource limitations, something’s got to give and, for many campuses, investment in facilities...
January 10, 2014
Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) appointed Anthony Benoit to serve as the 12th president in the institution's 106-year history. Benoit was tapped as interim president of the Boston institution upon the death of President George Chryssis in May 2013. Before joining BFIT, Benoit was director for the technology department and professor of environmental technology at Three Rivers Community College...
January 10, 2014
Every year since the mid-1990s, Governing magazine has offered speculation on the top legislative issues facing the states. Higher education rarely makes the list, and most Governing higher ed coverage of late has focused on state budget cuts. But 2014 may be different. The magazine cites a survey by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities finding that 37...
January 7, 2014
The new year brings new tests for students who seek an alternative to earning a traditional high school diploma. And the six New England states are split on how to proceed. The old GED (general equivalency diploma) test was originally developed in 1942 and used universally until it expired at the end of the 2013. In its place is the 2014...
January 6, 2014
In April 2013, NEJHE launched its New Directions for Higher Education series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. Past installments of the series featured Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviewing: Carnegie Foundation Presid...
January 2, 2014
Henry Bourgeois announced his retirement as president and CEO of the Alfond Scholarship Foundation, where he has worked for the past six years after leading the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine Compact for Higher Education. Colleen Quint, former founding director of the Mitchell Institute, will succeed him as head of the foundation, beginning Jan. 6. **** The Westfield State...
December 23, 2013
Health and Human Services announces early learning grants. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that six states, including Vermont, would be awarded Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants. Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will also receive a portion of the $280 million in grant awards. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said his state's $37 million will...
December 16, 2013
Budget deal changes loan-collection policies. Two changes involving the collection of federal student loan debt would contribute about $5 billion in savings to the broad budget deal announced last week. The compromise worked out by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would reduce the compensation that companies receive for rehabilitating defaulted student loans made under a now-defunct...
December 16, 2013
Impacts of MOOCs on intellectual property rights and collective bargaining ... Massive Open Online Courses (“MOOCs”) are free, online courses offered by institutions of higher education to individual users across the world, and in the vast majority of cases, without any admissions criteria. MOOCs are popular with individuals because they offer unprecedented, free access to the best ...
December 13, 2013
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named Nicholas M. Donofrio, to chair the Board of Regents of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, the state's largest higher ed system. Donofrio is a former IBM executive and member of the board. The administration asked the previous chair of the 92,000-student system, Lewis J. Robinson, to step down in August amid a pay-raise scandal...
December 10, 2013
In the past two decades, increases in computing power and the ability to retrieve and store data, combined with the mobile and data communications revolution, have altered how we exchange information. These factors have also stimulated growth throughout the economy. However, in many rural areas of the country, the information superhighway lacks an on-ramp for people who are looking for educational...
December 9, 2013
Pell Grants subject of House hearing on Higher Ed Act. The House Education and the Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training held a hearing on Pell Grants as part of its series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. House Republicans expressed some doubts about recent expansions of the Pell Grant program, while Democrats...
December 9, 2013
As the world pays tribute to Nelson Mandela, we reflect on the South African struggle. Five years before Mandela was freed from the jail (where he spent almost a third of his life) and nearly a decade before he won the Nobel Peace Prize and became president of South Africa, NEBHE created the New England South African Student Scholarship Program....
December 4, 2013
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) President John Maeda announced he will leave RISD at the end of the fall semester to become a design partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he will help entrepreneurs build design into their company cultures; he will also chair the eBay Design Advisory Board, working with the company to evolve design capabilities. Watch...
December 2, 2013
Since the beginning of the 21st century, there’s been a growing concern about the escalating cost of an undergraduate education. With those concerns have come questions as to the real value of the education. Numerous writers have examined the return-on-investment (ROI) of an undergraduate degree; some writers, referencing the increased unemployment rates of recent college graduates, have com...
November 25, 2013
Study on frequent testing. According to a study released in the journal PLoS One, frequent testing improves overall performance in college students and reduces achievement gaps. University use of patents. The Brookings Institute released a study that explored the ways universities try to capitalize on research and patents. The study looked at schools that licensed their patents and at schools...
November 25, 2013
The Barr Foundation named James E. Canales, currently president and CEO of the San Francisco-based James Irvine Foundation, to be Barr's first president, effective May 2014. **** Blackbaud Inc. named Michael P. Gianoni president and CEO, effective Jan. 13, 2014, succeeding Anthony Boor, who has served as interim president and CEO since August 2013, and will continue to serve as...
November 25, 2013
For the past decade, we have been mired in generalizations in debating online education. Broad, often anecdotal and generally unsubstantiated comparisons have been made about the virtual and physical classroom–often taking the worst of one in contrast to the best of the other. But the range of what falls under the rubric of online distance learning is now far too vast to support simple and sweep...
November 22, 2013
NEBHE announces publication of the 2014 Guide to New England Colleges and Universities, the third edition produced in association with Boston magazine. The Guide features listings for more than 250 colleges and universities throughout the six New England states, as well as tips on navigating the college applications process, an overview of financial aid options and information on NEBHE's tuition-saving Regional...
November 19, 2013
New England's public colleges and universities continue to expand their program offerings under the New England Regional Student Program (RSP), which means more access for the region's residents to out-of-the-ordinary programs at reduced tuition. Students eligible under the RSP save an average of $7,000 on their annual tuition bills. For students interested in studying and improving the human condition, for...
November 18, 2013
House and Senate hearings on federal student aid. Both chambers of Congress discussed ways to restructure the federal government's student aid programs. The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing on federal student aid and on Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the same issue. Lawmakers discussed simplifying the administrative...
November 18, 2013
New England will continue to experience a slow jobs recovery through 2017, according to economists speaking last week at the New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) Fall 2013 Economic Outlook Conference in Boston.The modest job growth from 2013 through 2017 will be strongest, percentage-wise, in the construction industry, fueled partly by a housing rebound, followed by professional and business se...
November 13, 2013
Southern Vermont College President Karen Gross, a NEBHE delegate, wrote the following comment to National Journal's recent Next America forum on educating first-generation college students: Paying attention to improving the graduation rates among first-generation college students has gained fervor. We now appreciate the need to get vulnerable students to and through college if America is ever to regain its competitive...
November 12, 2013
Bill targets for-profit schools' funding. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers (POST) Act (S.1659), which would aim to make for-profit colleges and universities less reliant on federal funding. Under current law, the "90-10 rule" requires universities to get at least 10% of their funding from non-federal sources. The proposed bill would replace that...
November 12, 2013
Mitchell College President Mary Ellen Jukoski announced she will end one of the longest runs among modern college presidencies on June 30, 2014, following the college's 75th anniversary. Jukoski was appointed interim president in 1994 and chosen as Mitchell's first female president a year later. ****Patricia Gentile, dean of enrollment at Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey, was approved...
November 8, 2013
More from the NEBHE and Davis Educational Foundation Summit on Cost of Higher Education ... NEBHE and the Davis Educational Foundation convened more than 200 higher education leaders in Boston on Oct. 21 for a Summit on Cost in Higher Education. Jamienne S. Studley, deputy under secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, explained the Obama administration's proposals to rein in college p...
November 5, 2013
Northeastern University economist Barry Bluestone will discuss Boston's Role in the regional economic network at the fall 2013 Outlook Conference of the New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) to be held Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Bluestone is Northeastern's Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy and founding director of the university's Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for...
November 5, 2013
In April, NEJHE launched its New Directions for Higher Education series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. Past installments of the series featured Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviewing: Carnegie Foundation President A...
November 4, 2013
College value ranking lists on the rise. The New York Times reported that rankings of colleges' value, based on cost compared to returns, are increasing. Children's hospitals graduate medical education payment program. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved by voice vote legislation (S. 1557) that would reauthorize a program that provides federal money to support training...
November 4, 2013
Since the bottom dropped out of our economy in the fall of 2008, family income has declined and, five years later, shows few signs of recovering. Nearly all net income gain over this time has gone to the top 1%-2% in the country. Unemployment, underemployment and anxiety about job stability continue to trouble millions of American families. University presidents rightfully argue that a college edu...
October 29, 2013
More from the NEBHE and Davis Educational Foundation Summit on Cost of Higher Education ... The more NEBHE and others focus on the "cost disease" in higher education and new business models to treat it, the more similarities with another sector arise. Like higher ed, healthcare is marked by always-rising costs and prices, complicated subsidies, varying quality, stubborn inequity, and hidden ine...
October 28, 2013
College net prices stable, reports find. Last week, the College Board released reports on "Trends in College Pricing" and "Trends in Student Aid" which found that, even though the price of college has grown, the cost to students has remained stable for the past decade. The report shows that the net cost of tuition, fees, room and board for the...
October 22, 2013
New data linking poverty and less pursuit of higher education. A report released by the National Student Clearinghouse provides new data showing that students from high schools serving large concentrations of low-income families are less likely to enroll or persist in college than their peers from schools with a more affluent population. CFPB report on student loans. The Consumer Financial...
October 22, 2013
NEBHE and the Davis Educational Foundation convened more than 200 higher education leaders this past weekend in Boston for a frank conversation about costs and the higher ed business model. The Summit on Cost in Higher Education aimed to begin a conversation on innovative practices, collaborations and cutting-edge strategies to address the “cost disease” in higher education. Continued er...
October 15, 2013
Calls for action on ESEA. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday called for action on a long-overdue overhaul of the elementary and secondary school law, contending that Congress has "failed to carry out its basic core responsibilities on education." The last reauthorization of the law, known as No Child Left Behind, expired in 2007 and has been criticized by both...
October 15, 2013
American college students’ worldviews affect what they value, the way they behave and potentially how they learn. We have found that today’s students are divided not dichotomously, between religious and secular, but rather among three distinct worldviews: religious, secular and spiritual. Institutions of higher education need to understand the distinctions among these three worldviews and desi...
October 10, 2013
In fall 2012, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) was awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program for a project titled Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning (AM PBL). The project aims to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in New England by developing interdisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL) challenges (case...
October 8, 2013
The global economic recession has caused students, parents and policymakers to reevaluate personal and societal investments in higher education—and has prompted the realization that traditional higher ed “business models” may be unsustainable. Jay A. Halfond of Boston University and Peter Stokes of Northeastern University recently conducted a non-scientific "pulse" survey of presidents at...
October 7, 2013
Shutdown's limited initial effects of education. The U.S. Department of Education is on partial shutdown, with many employees furloughed, but school districts are functioning in full. The effects of the government shutdown would be harder felt in the education sector if the shutdown were to continue for a prolonged period. Pell grants and federal direct student loans will largely be...
October 4, 2013
When Should College Presidents Speak out on Public Issues?Connection Examines the President’s Bully Pulpit
October 1, 2013
In April, NEJHE launched its New Directions for Higher Education series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. The first installment of the series featured Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviewing Carnegie Foundation Presiden...
September 30, 2013
Legislators ask for information on relationship between schools and lenders. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Finance Committee Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee George Miller (D-CA) demanded that eight U.S. banks produce information about agreements they may have with colleges to encourage students to use their products. They cited...
September 25, 2013
I was at Providence’s Trinity Rep last week covering the Business Innovation Factory's (BIF's) summit of innovators—BIF’s ninth, my fourth. The lineup of speakers—“storytellers” in BIF parlance—included puppeteers, rebels at work, an innovative rabbi, educators and assorted other visionaries. The audience: about 400 self-assessed innovators, some with job titles like Chief Sorceres...
September 23, 2013
Passage of a budget for FY14 was complicated by action taken on a $1.9 billion transportation bill filed by Gov. Deval Patrick to fund transportation projects and increase funding for education. Lawmakers rejected Patrick's $1.9 billion request for new taxes and sent back a bill with $500 million in new taxes including a 3-cent hike in the gas tax. Patrick...
September 23, 2013
Congress considers renewal of the Higher Education Act. Momentum is slowly building to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) with college costs and student debt under bipartisan scrutiny. The most recent reauthorization of the HEA passed in 2008 and expires in 2014. On Thursday, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on reauthorization. It is the first...
September 23, 2013
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin named Rebecca Holcombe, current director of the Dartmouth Teacher Education Program in Hanover, N.H., to lead Vermont's Agency of Education, starting in January. Before going to Dartmouth. Holcombe was a principal at Fairlee School in Vermont and a social studies and science teacher at the Frances C. Richmond School in Hanover, N.H. The governor's office took...
September 21, 2013
New Hampshire has emerged as a leader in international education. Recognizing the value in offering the opportunity for an American-style higher education in other parts of the world, the New Hampshire Legislature has acted favorably on legislation that my colleagues and I have sponsored to help create universities in Greece, Italy and Jordan. Degree-granting authority for the three universities ...
September 20, 2013
Maine lawmakers averted a government shutdown, overriding Gov. Paul LePage's veto of the budget for FY14 and FY15. Both branches exceeded the required two-thirds vote, with the House voting 114–34 in support of the override, and the Senate voting 26-9 in support. While Democrats won the budget battle in rejecting LePage's budget plan, they lost a number of battles including...
September 20, 2013
Granite State lawmakers on June 26 approved a $10.7 billion two-year budget with bipartisan support. Members of the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, unanimously supported the budget, while more than 300 of the 400-member Democrat-controlled House approved the spending package. Bipartisan agreement on the two-year plan was bolstered by growth in March and April tax revenues, which generated approximately...
September 17, 2013
Lawmakers passed a budget totaling $8.2 billion with no new fees or taxes and worked to address the state's ailing business climate by providing structural changes and government reforms. Gov. Lincoln Chafee opposed the structural changes, but let the bill become law without his signature. The budget provides for: payment of $2.5 million related to the state-supported bonds of baseball...
September 16, 2013
The school shootings in Newtown dominated the beginning of the 2013 legislative session. Lawmakers passed a bipartisan gun violence prevention bill, the toughest in the nation. The legislation further restricts the use of assault weapons and imposes more background checks and restrictions on the sale of high-capacity magazine clips. In addition, both branches of the General Assembly adopted a freedom...
September 16, 2013
Common guidelines for education research and development. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have formally released common guidelines for education research and development. The guidelines are intended to guide research investment decisions at IES, the U.S. Department of Education's main research agency, and NSF research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. They also seek...
September 16, 2013
In April, NEJHE launched its New Directions for Higher Education series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. The first installment of the series featured Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviewing Carnegie Foundation President ...
September 13, 2013
NEJHE will report on new education-related laws and other legislative highlights from each New England statehouse, starting with Vermont ... On May 14, Vermont lawmakers wrapped up their session by passing a $5.2 billion budget for FY14. House and Senate proposals to changes in the income tax fell by the wayside as did proposed increases in taxes on bottled water,...
September 12, 2013
Colby College named University of Chicago Executive Vice President David Greene to be the 20th president of the 200-year-old private liberal arts college, effective July 1. He will succeed William Adams, who has been Colby's president since 2000. Greene previously served in planning roles at Brown University and Smith College. **** Manchester Community College appointed Sandra Palmer as the interim...
September 10, 2013
Zach Sherman earned an associate degree from us in just under 100 days. He did in about three months what many students struggle to do in two years in full-time degree programs. Zach works the graveyard shift at a ConAgra food plant in Troy, Ohio, and he was in many ways an exceptional case: unencumbered with family responsibilities, willing to put in several hours a day, a voracious reader posses...
September 9, 2013
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is due for reauthorization and proposals have been introduced in the House and Senate. (The last reauthorization of ESEA was the No Child Left Behind under President George W. Bush.) On July 19, the House passed the Student Success Act (H.R. 5). The bill would reduce the federal...
September 9, 2013
We need to find the teachable moments within the higher education financing and repayment process ... American Student Assistance has a unique window onto students during some very important milestones in their formative financial years. Our nonprofit interacts with students from the time they’re choosing a college, to applying for financial aid and loans, to starting a first job, getting tha...
September 3, 2013
Shifting demography, rising operating expenses, plummeting state and federal support, intensified competition, broken financial models … these are just a few of the complex challenges facing New England higher education institutions. Given these tensions, who would be surprised if college presidents in the region weren’t occasionally plagued by sleepless nights, hounded by anxious trustees, or...
August 30, 2013
BergeronKatherine Bergeron, dean of the college at Brown University, was named the 11th president of Connecticut College, effective Jan. 1, 2014.****The Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, which governs the 17 Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, appointed Asnuntuck Community College CFO and Dean of Administration James Lombella to be the interim president of the college, following Martha McLeod's retirement...
August 28, 2013
When President Obama outlined his higher education agenda in Buffalo last week, commentators tuned out the beat of war drums (this time against Syria) and began dissecting the president's plan on the college front. The overriding question: Can the new models conceived of by consultants and think tanks over the past decade—and now advanced by the president—work to lower cost...
August 27, 2013
Don't Miss Out on the New England Campus Sustainability Forum This Friday! Friday Sept. 20, 2013 Hosted by the Colleges of the Fenway 550 Huntington Ave Boston, MA 02115 The New England Campus Sustainability Forum has once again attracted strong headliners to create an engaging and informative day. Julian Agyeman, noted climate and sustainability justice champion; Mary Powell, CEO of...
August 27, 2013
An expert on the college presidency weighs on on challenges facing presidents at Dartmouth and NYU ... Cashing chips at Dartmouth? Dartmouth College did not need the round of controversial headlines that were about to come its way nor the cascade that was surely to follow. Only weeks in office as president, Philip Hanlon found his back to the wall. What had happened and so early on his watch? A...
August 25, 2013
Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It; Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Grady Bogue; The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2013. Most books on the college presidency are either autobiographies or prescriptions for success. We avoid autopsies, diagnoses of leadership collapses and college president resignations/terminations. Usually no one want...
August 20, 2013
Assessing what someone has learned from work and life experience to determine if it's worth college credit When Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Richard M. Freeland met in June with representatives from Boston businesses and the local community, four-year colleges, community colleges and the workforce system, he described the Vision Project, an initiative through the Massachusetts De...
August 12, 2013
Lewis Robinson Jr. stepped down as chair of Connecticut's Board of Regents of Higher Education, a post he had held since July 2011. As the Connecticut Mirror reported, "The system was hit by a series of controversies last fall that included the improper granting of double-digit percentage pay raises for central office staff and disclosure that the community college presidents were being offered expedited...
August 12, 2013
At age 18, Suffolk University sophomore Marc-Daniel Paul seems destined for success. A Brockton High graduate who experienced homelessness as a teen, Paul was chosen as a Bank of America Student Leader and published his first book, Breathing Ink: The Heart of Poetry, during his senior year in high school. As an intern in the office of state Sen. Mark C. Montigny (D-New Bedford) this summer, Paul w...
August 9, 2013
We live in a knowledge-driven global society. The world has closely knitted economic, social and cultural relations that offer greater entrepreneurial and professional opportunities than ever before. Since meritocracy is considered the basis for success, institutions of higher education like to invest in high-impact practices and programs that raise the quality of academic experiences for students...
August 6, 2013
NEBHE is a partner on a new report titled Green Revolving Funds: A Guide to Implementation & Management, which provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and growing a green revolving fund (GRF) at a college, university or other nonprofit institution. The newly expanded guide establishes best practices from interviews with presidents, facility managers, sustainability directors, and chief financial officers. The...
August 6, 2013
Student loan interest rate bill sent to president. On Wednesday, the House approved the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act (H.R. 1911) by a vote of 392 to 31. The Senate passed the legislation the previous week and the bill is headed to the president, who has endorsed the legislation, for approval. The bill would modify how interest rates on federal...
August 1, 2013
The Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC) relocated to 45 Temple Place in downtown Boston, the headquarters of NEBHE and the National Campus Compact network. MACC is a nonprofit coalition of college and university presidents committed to developing the civic skills of students, building partnerships with the community, and integrating civic engagement with teaching and research. MACC had been housed since 1996...
July 31, 2013
The classroom lecture/discussion model has become shallow and brackish. It should no longer be the standard. Most educators recognize the value of practical experiential learning and strive to develop assignments that engage students in a meaningful way and help them to deepen their understanding of rote content and derive some meaning from it. In an age where multiple streams of information in...
July 29, 2013
Senate approves student loan interest rate bill. On Wednesday, the Senate approved the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act by a vote of 81 to 18. House leadership has promised swift approval of the legislation, with a vote in the House likely this week. The bipartisan proposal would tie interest rates on undergraduate subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans to the 10-year...
July 26, 2013
May you move from your job before the media calls you "embattled" ... That's how the Boston Globe described Leslie C. Berlowitz when she announced this week she'd resign as president of the Cambridge, Mass.-based American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She had led the academy for 17 years but was on paid leave while being investigated for falsely claiming to...
July 24, 2013
From a higher education perspective, new "Common Core" standards could improve student college-readiness levels, reduce institutional remediation rates and close education gaps in and between states. By 2014-15, many K-12 education systems should be able to adopt new state assessments after working to implement new state standards for student learning in English Language Arts and Mathematics. M...
July 23, 2013
Wentworth Institute of Technology 550 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.Early-bird registration will be available through Aug. 30. Please visit www.necsf.com to learn more. The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) invites you to attend the 2013 New England Campus Sustainability Forum (NECSF) co-organized by AASHE, Clean Air-Cool Planet, the Colleges of...
July 23, 2013
The Colby College Museum of Art now has surpassed the Portland Art Museum as Maine's largest art museum, thanks to a new $15 million Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion that holds nearly 300 of the 500 works given to Colby by Peter and Paula Lunder. Peter Lunder is a Colby alumn and former president of Dexter Shoe Company, which was founded by...
July 22, 2013
Student loan deal reached. A bipartisan group of senators announced a compromise on the Stafford Loan interest rates. Senator Tom Harkin, chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) Tom Coburn (R-OK), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Angus King (I-ME) also participated in the announcement at the Capitol. According to reports, the White House also...
July 22, 2013
Massive Open Online Courses (“MOOCs”) are free online courses offered by institutions of higher education to individuals across the world, without any admissions criteria. Through web-based courses hosted by MOOC platforms such as Coursera or edX, student-participants learn by accessing media, including documents, pictures and uploaded lectures on the course website. While MOOCs may m...
July 18, 2013
While some economists see the national economy poised to come back, state budgets and economies aren't yet in the clear, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and National Governors Association (NGA) 2013 Fiscal Survey of States. As it is, New Englanders pay just $179 per capita toward higher education, compared with $230 per capita nationally. The...
July 16, 2013
Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) named Damon A. Williams to be its new senior vice president of program, training & youth development services. Williams joined BGCA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he served as vice provost and chief diversity officer, and on the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. He previously was chief...
July 16, 2013
Engaged learning—the type that happens outside textbooks and beyond the four walls of the classroom—moves beyond right and wrong answers to grappling with the uncertainties and contradictions of a complex world. My iPhone backs up to the “cloud.” GoogleDocs is all about “cloud computing.” And Facebook, well, forget the clouds; it’s as ubiquitous as the sky. But learning? Really...
July 9, 2013
In April, NEJHE launched its New Directions for Higher Education series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. The first installment of the series featured Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviewing Carnegie Foundation President ...
July 8, 2013
To read the full text of a selected article in PDF format, click on a highlighted headline below.
July 2, 2013
NEBHE President & CEO Michael K. Thomas posted the following invitation for nominations to the board of the National Council on State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NCSARA) ... Dear Colleague: We invite nominations and applications for the board of the National Council on State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. As described in the final report of the Commission on the Regulation of Postsecondary...
July 1, 2013
Ruth Molina became director of the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (NE HERC) after eight years managing faculty and staff recruitment at Bridgewater State University. She has led the NE HERC advertising committee and served on its diversity and steering committees. Molina succeeds Jennifer Ivers, who is assistant dean for faculty development at Harvard University and will stay on...
July 1, 2013
Supreme Court affirmative action ruling. On Monday, the Supreme Court released a ruling in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The 7-1 decision was indecisive, remanding the case for reconsideration in the lower courts and directing lower courts to use "strict scrutiny" in affirmative action cases. The result of the ruling is that schools will continue...
June 24, 2013
House committee OKs ESEA reauthorization. On Wednesday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a proposed reauthorization to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by a vote of 23 to 16. The bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), introduced by Committee Chair John Kline (R-MN), would consolidate most federal funding into one block grant. The proposal would...
June 21, 2013
New England is aging ... but gracefully? Last week, the Census Bureau reported that three New England states are the oldest in the U.S. in median age: Maine (43.5 years), Vermont (42.3 years) and New Hampshire (42 years). The other states in the region are old too: Connecticut (40.5 years); Rhode Island (39.8 years) and Massachusetts (39.3 years), compared with a national median age of 37.4 yea...
June 19, 2013
A team of students from the University of Massachusetts Lowell will receive up to $90,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop nontoxic, biodegradable "surfactants" from fruit peels and algae and potentially bring the invention to market. Surfactants are cleaning agents used in soaps, inks and other products to help them apply more easily to surfaces. Many surfactants...
June 18, 2013
ESEA reauthorization approved by committee. At a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) markup on Tuesday, lawmakers considered the Senate Democrats' proposal, the Strengthening America's Schools Act, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). A bill (S. 1094) introduced by Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) advanced by a party-line vote of 12-10 despite opposition from...
June 17, 2013
NEJHE's New Directions for Higher Education examines emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. The first installment of the series featured Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviewing Carnegie Foundation President Anthony Bryk about the future ...
June 13, 2013
The oldest U.S. states in median age are: Maine (43.5 years), Vermont (42.3 years) and New Hampshire (42 years), according to newly updated data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The three remaining New England states are up there too: Connecticut (40.5 years); Rhode Island (39.8 years) and Massachusetts (39.3 years). Nationally, the median age was 37.4 years. More than 43...