Public colleges and universities are a key driver of social and economic mobility, yet they also face increasingly challenging financial and political environments. In this essay, I discuss four key areas in which state higher education policy can influence student success and equity: the amount of funding provided, funding allocation mechanisms,…

We analyze a natural experiment in which policymakers in Pennsylvania first implemented, and later removed, reimbursements to districts for students exiting to brick and mortar and cyber charter schools. Generalized difference-in-difference models show that larger shares of students enrolling in charter schools predict decrements in spending,…

The OECD Higher Education Policy Survey (HEPS) is a new instrument developed by the OECD Higher Education Policy Team to gather comparative information on system features and characteristics of policies across OECD jurisdictions, to support policy analysis and peer learning. The first HEPS was fielded in 2020, to support the ongoing thematic…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of public policy decisions in each state that contribute to public higher education funding levels and funding distributions across states and…

Policy implementation research suggests that the likelihood of policy success, i.e. matching policy outcomes with expectations, can be best assessed by engaging the bottom-up perspectives of those who will implement the policy. This paper works from this premise and examines the views of university leaders in Kazakhstan on the potential impact of…

Module A of the OECD Higher Education Policy Survey (HEPS) 2022 elicited information on policies to promote digitalisation of higher education in OECD member and accession countries. In total, 30 jurisdictions responded, providing comparative information on various areas of digitalisation policy, from regulation and governance to financial and…

The number of international students in British Columbia (BC) public schools has grown four-fold since the 2001-2002 school year. Two factors have promoted this growth: tuition from international students was one area that school districts could increase financial resources during a period of government austerity policies; and the province…

On January 14, 2019, Mike DeWine was sworn in as Ohio's 70th governor. Jon Husted joined Governor DeWine and received the oath of office as Ohio's Lieutenant Governor. From the very beginning, Governor DeWine requested that his Cabinet listen carefully to the people of the state and then proceed to act with a sense of urgency to change Ohio.…

This issue of "WICHE Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) annual survey of tuition and fees at public postsecondary institutions in the WICHE region in the context of state higher education finance policy. In light of steady increases in tuition and fees rates, modest growth in…

After more than 20 years of practice and construction, China's higher vocational education has developed into an important educational category and become an important force in the development of China's higher education. But in the course of this development, higher vocational education is facing problems such as excessively fast development,…

This issue of "Policy Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's annual survey of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in the WICHE region and discusses related policy implications. (Data from the survey were published in November 2016.) Overall, tuition and fees in the WICHE…

This issue of "Policy Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) annual survey of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in the WICHE region and discusses related policy implications. Overall, tuition and fees in the WICHE region increased relatively little in 2015-16…

In education policy, as in many other policy fields, well-designed policy reforms may fail to get enacted because policymakers may suddenly become confronted with a public backlash against their reform agenda. Thus, understanding the dynamics of public opinion is important in order to be able to assess the chances of successful reform. There is a…

One of the major challenges facing secondary education sub-sector in Kenya over the years is low transition rate from primary to secondary level of education. This has contributed to low enrolment at secondary schools with a wide gap existing between primary and secondary enrolment. With the introduction of Free Primary Education in 2003, the gap…

Rapid increases in what colleges charge and what they spend per student have been and remain one of the most controversial aspects of American higher education. Tuition, fees, and other college charges have increased in both the public and private sectors at more than twice the rate of inflation for over a quarter century. Trends over time in what…