Purpose: The emergence of internet-based business models has given rise to online higher education institutions (OHEIs) that offer their undergraduate and graduate degree programs exclusively online with minimal physical presence. Research on OHEIs discusses the need for external legitimacy and resource acquisition, often ignoring the role of…

The European University Association (EUA) presents a set of recommendations on sustaining Ukrainian universities and enabling them to continue their research and teaching activities. The Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 impelled an immediate display of solidarity and support from higher education and research institutions,…

In a rapidly changing context, US institutions of higher education are struggling amidst myriad pressures related, for example, to funding, accountability, standardisation and technology. In particular, pressures on 'progressive' or non-traditional colleges are immense. These schools, which have historically emphasised individualised,…

With the pool of high school graduates decreasing, national and global competition increasing, and the need to invest in new technologies and approaches growing, many universities and small colleges alike are struggling--not just to thrive, but to survive. In this challenging environment, mergers and consolidations are often viewed as options of…

Chinese vocational colleges are being compromised because the central government is moving more of its educational resources to the top-tier universities. Although vocational college enrollments have slowed in the increasingly high-tech eastern provinces, colleges in the western part of the country are poised for increased enrollments to address…

Being a college CIO these days must feel a bit like juggling chain saws with one hand while holding a donation cup in the other. It's unlikely to end well, yet it represents the new normal in IT. While campus clients--from administrators to faculty and students--expect the usual raft of tech services, the IT budget simply can't deliver. In this…

Nationally, state funding to higher education has significantly decreased. Ironically, the trend of state divestment in higher education coincides with federal and state policies geared toward increasing degree completion rates. Through an analysis of qualitative data gathered at California higher education institutions, this paper highlights how…

Scarcely a week goes by without a headline about the unsustainability of higher education as we know it, under threat from new models, for-profits, or online education. Most threatened are small liberal arts colleges--with commentators predicting the demise of colleges with fewer than 1,000, or even 1,500 students. Are these trends inevitable, or…

Institutional autopsies can teach much about why learning centers fail the test of time. St. Augustine Junior College in north Florida, the brainchild of Dr. George Apel, was begun in 1942 and ended seven years later in 1949. The purposes of the short-lived college are identified for discussion in this paper. Also identified are the reasons for…

As the economy sinks, dwindling state appropriations and plunging endowment values are forcing colleges to make significant budget cuts. Professors--from the tenured to the adjunct--are beginning to see teaching-load increases and travel restrictions, along with salary cuts and layoffs. At institutions taking austerity measures, those measures are…

This article provides suggestions on how colleges can keep strategic plans on course in a stormy economy. These are: (1) Move quickly; (2) Develop contingencies; (3) Be flexible; (4) Make hard choices; and (5) Recognize opportunities.

The economy's collapse has caught up with the billion-dollar campaign. In the past 12 months, the amount of money raised by a dozen of the colleges engaged in higher education's biggest fund-raising campaigns fell 32 percent from the year before. The decline, which started before the worst of the recession, has forced colleges to postpone…

The end of the fiscal year usually isn't a momentous occasion for colleges. But this June 30 could be a day of reckoning many never expected. Colleges borrowed billions of dollars over the past decade to improve facilities and fulfill their ambitions. Now the consequences may be about to blow up in their finances. The author reports on how…

Cornell University professors, trustees, and alumni recently convened to consider whether rising costs threaten the notion that higher education can help anyone in America succeed. The exclusive Cornell Club may have seemed a venue at odds with the sober tone of the discussion. According to economics professor and higher education expert Ronald G.…

Last October, when CBS News's Bob Schieffer welcomed 57 million television viewers to Hofstra University for the third presidential debate, the moment marked perhaps the best chance yet for the university to show off its efforts--with the help of some 4,000 journalists to cover the event--to remake itself from a sleepy commuter campus into a…