This study explores the historical construction of student volunteering in higher education (HE) and the implications of this process for present-day organisational structures and common understandings. This critical-historical analysis, which focuses on the Israeli HE field, draws from archival data spanning the 1970s-2000s, from two leading…

Preparing pre-service students to teach agricultural mechanics is a difficult task due to the career pathway including a great variety of topics (Byrd et al., 2015). This study examined the trend in requirements in 1862 land-grant universities for number of courses, course credit hours, and course topics related to agricultural mechanics, as well…

Purpose: Higher education, as a field of study, is one of the few programmatic areas that offer two doctoral degrees: The Doctor of Education (EdD) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). In the United States, the two degrees are often conflated. Conversations, to this point, have done more to contribute to the theoretical debate than to operationally…

Several states, including Texas, have implemented an "excess semester credit hours (ESCH)" policy. State ESCH policies assess a fee to students at public institutions when they exceed a set number of lifetime cumulative credit hours (e.g. students with more than the 120 credit hours needed for a bachelor's degree). In this article, we…

This is the third brief summarizing results from the longitudinal analysis of the Transfer Opportunity Project (TOP). TOP, funded by a grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), explores the possible factors contributing to the low percentage of community college students who go on to earn bachelor's degrees. The project uses a…

There are longstanding concerns regarding whether remedial coursework at the college or university level is the most effective and efficient way to increase student success for students deemed not "college ready" upon entry to college. Requiring students to complete these courses (often non-credit-bearing) prior to becoming eligible for…

The ECTS, European Credit Transfer System, is now widely used throughout higher education institutions as it facilitates student mobility within Europe and the comparison of study programs and courses. Most European institutions provide students with the number of ECTS each course and module is worth. A full-time student needs to complete 60 ECTS…

In response to the rising cost of higher education, as well as the average time of six years to obtain a 4-year bachelor's degree, lawmakers, educators, and students have turned to credit-based collegiate programs as a potential solution. Dual credit is the most popular means to accumulate college credits at a lower cost. The body of research is…

College enrollment has increased over the past 10 years and is projected to continue growing over the next 10 for both full- and part-time students. At the same time, institutions face low retention and graduation rates. One policy that shows promise in increasing completion rates, especially for adult learners and those who served in the…

In this article, the authors are the first to describe the core economics curriculum requirements for economics majors at all American colleges and universities, as opposed to a sample of institutions. Not surprisingly, principles of economics is nearly universally required and implemented as a two-semester course in 85 percent of economics major…

"What Will They Learn?"™ evaluates every four-year public university with a stated liberal arts mission as well as hundreds of private colleges and universities selected on the basis of size, mission, and regional representation. All schools in the "What Will Will They Learn"™ study are regionally-accredited, nonprofit…

In the fiercely competitive, global job market, solid preparation in core skills matters a lot. Will college graduates write with the clarity, grace, and accuracy that employers (and everyone else) expect? Will they have the basic mathematical and scientific skills--regardless of their majors--that equip them to navigate an increasingly…

Because federal financial aid guidelines stipulate that students must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credits per semester in order to receive the full amount of aid, many colleges and universities define full-time enrollment as 12 credits per semester. Yet, if a student takes only 12 credits each fall and spring term, it is impossible to complete…

Information Resource Management--State University System of Florida (IRM-SUS) is the primary collector and provider of data concerning state universities that is used to make sound education policy decisions. The office provides technical assistance to those using the information, state and federal reporting support, those supplying information,…

The success of America's economy depends on a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of people who complete college with a high-quality credential. To meet this goal, the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) is leading a national effort to increase support for students who left higher education without a degree but are eligible…