Policy optimization, a variant of The Input-Environment-Output's (I-E-O's) environmental optimization, has found traction on the edges of and outside of the discipline of higher education. It has spawned an entire industry of vendors (e.g., EAB, Starfish, and the myriad vendors specific to functional areas) selling student success solutions, and…

Maintaining an active research agenda while teaching full-time at a community college can be daunting, but with institutional support for scholarly research by way of course release it is possible. This personal reflection offers up evidence of institutional support from a variety of sources within the public university system of New York City,…

The academic calendar contains national data on how the academic year is structured (beginning of the academic year, term times, holidays and examination periods). Differences between university and non-university study programmes are also highlighted. The information is available for 38 countries. [For the 2019/20 report, see ED610817.]

Michigan's public higher education institutions have seen decades of decline in per-student funding, leaving students to face costs that are simply out of reach. The state, for the most part, relies on institutions to provide aid to bring down costs for students at four-year institutions, rather than providing students with aid directly via state…

States, systems, and colleges in the Great Lakes region have made important investments in basic needs, but more progress is needed. Addressing basic needs--which includes income, food, housing, health, mental health and well-being, child care, transportation, and technology--helps support college access and completion. The Urban Institute…

When contemplating a major change to public higher education governance, state leaders should bear in mind several guiding principles. Such principles can ensure that current and future students will have access to an affordable, quality postsecondary education. They can also help ensure that the state's system of higher education meets public…

Since 2003, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has produced the annual State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report to broaden understanding and enable analysis of state-level and national funding and enrollment trends over time. The final section in each SHEF report has focused on the effort and capacity of states…

Despite the growing demand and availability of non-degree workforce training, outcomes for these programs are mixed. For some, non-degree programs are a faster, more affordable pathway to a good job, and, more importantly, a career that offers economic security--they represent the future of education. But for others, non-degree programs are a…

In "Discredited," education scholars Lauren Schudde and Huriya Jabbar illuminate the successes and failures of the systems that support student transfer among postsecondary institutions. Summarizing the key challenges of various transfer pathways, Schudde and Jabbar show how the current decentralized, bureaucracy-ridden, and often…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented shifts to higher education globally, including Canadian universities. In this paper I utilize an extended photo essay method and narrative response to document the changes seen in my local university environment during the months of April through September 2020. Emerging literature and survey results…

Since establishing its first campus in 1868, the University of California (UC), California's land-grant university, developed into the nation's first multi-campus system in the United States, and is today widely recognized as the world's premier network of public research universities. This short essay provides an historical brief on the role that…

The Accountability Plan is an annual report that is closely aligned with the Board of Governors' 2025 System Strategic Plan. This report enhances the System's commitment to accountability and strategic planning by fostering greater coordination between institutional administrators, University Boards of Trustees and the Board of Governors regarding…

In the following Q&A, NEBHE's [New England Board of Higher Education's] Fellow for Open Education, Lindsey Gumb, takes the pulse of Open Education in Rhode Island with two key leaders in the field: Dragan Gill, who is a Rhode Island College reference librarian and co-chair of the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative, and Daniela Fairchild,…

In the 1980s, leaders recognized a small set of institutions enrolled a large percentage of Latino students but had limited resources to educate these students. The classification of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) formally recognized these institutions for capacity-building and other support. Federal law defines HSIs as accredited,…

Despite the growing demand and availability of non-degree workforce training, outcomes for these programs are mixed. For some, non-degree programs are a faster, more affordable pathway to a good job, and, more importantly, a career that offers economic security--they represent the future of education. But for others, non-degree programs are a…