This paper used graduation statistics of the Namibian secondary higher education over two decades to determine linkages to human capital of the youth and its multiplication into economic development. The paper assessed the effect of regional differences to show historic educational discrimination and why the education reform was required to…

To deal with the dynamic nature of global and socioeconomic conditions, it is critical to rethink the interplay between the efficiency of the higher education system and the employability outcomes of graduates. The purpose of this study was to investigate trends in undergraduate enrolment, graduation, and employment in Ethiopia. It looked at data…

As institutions face uncertainty in enrollment projections due to changing demographics, the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and stagnant high school graduation rates, focusing on improving student retention is important. Enrollment management models provide opportunities to assess the effectiveness of enrollment strategies and make…

Online courses provide flexible learning opportunities, but research suggests that students may learn less and persist at lower rates compared to face-to-face settings. However, few studies have investigated more distal effects of online education. In this study, we analyzed 6 years of institutional data for three cohorts of students in 13 large…

The United States cannot meet its higher education goals without changing the way it funds public colleges and universities. Current funding models do not sufficiently advance fully scaled improvements. Instead, today's models create unfunded mandates: Colleges are required to increase completion rates, but they do not receive essential funding…

State higher education governing agencies in the United States are uniquely positioned between the state government and public postsecondary sector. However, few studies have considered how this organizational characteristic influences these agencies' role in the policy process. The current study seeks to contribute to this gap in the literature…

The California State University's Graduation Initiative 2025 has strengthened and renewed campuses' commitment toward supporting students on their educational journey to ensure they meet their ultimate goal of graduation. Of equal importance is the elimination of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic equity gaps in graduation completion, especially for…

For decades, educators and policy makers have decried low graduation rates at US colleges, advocating policies and making investments to improve graduation. We analyze a decade of Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data for four-year colleges to investigate how much institutions have improved their graduation rates from 2008…

Three trends have characterized state policymaking for higher education in the 21st century: divestment, accountability, and race neutrality. These policy agendas are often justified as an attempt to optimize system efficiency and performance by making institutional actors (agents) responsive to the demands of state officials (principals). In this…

As part of the national agenda of accountability, state governments established performance funding policy to hold public institutions accountable for their performance. Accountability allows state policymakers to incentivize institutions to address state demands of increasing graduation rates in return for performance allocations. Although the…

Higher and doctoral education in Kazakhstan underwent a systemic reform since independence in 1990. Reforms have been determined by dynamic socio-economic developments in Kazakhstan, the country's entry into the global market, and the need to increase the competitiveness of its human capital. Kazakhstan joined the Bologna Process and switched to a…

What do students learn in school? In the 21 century, this question has become a political dilemma for countries around the globe. It is a deceptively simple question, but there has never been an easy answer. The problem of measuring student learning appears to express an educational problem: What and how much do students learn? Most student…

Although many institutions and government agencies count degrees as the sole measure of determining departmental or program viability, this method fails to consider other factors such as how many students who are within programs are present to replace students who graduated from those programs or how many credit hours were generated in the area.…

Test-optional admissions policies have been steadily, though slowly, expanding throughout higher education institutions for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, sparked a rapid expansion of institutions adopting test-optional policy. Using a diffusion of innovations framework, this study assesses the institutional characteristics that shaped…

Using data from nearly 1.2 million Black SAT takers, we estimate the impacts of initially enrolling in an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) on educational, economic, and financial outcomes. We control for the college application portfolio and compare students with similar portfolios and levels of interest in HBCUs and non-HBCUs who…