Read just about any editorial page these days and you’ll see a familiar refrain: “Is a college degree still worth it?” Wesleyan University (Conn.) President Michael Roth argues that not only is it worth it, but that it is more important than ever. Higher education admittedly faces many challenges over cost and access. Online instruction, […]
In the past few years, many universities have begun to explore a concept frequently and successfully implemented in the corporate world, but previously rare in higher education: shared services. The term “shared services” refers to a streamlining process where administrative tasks or technology management services that regularly occurred across several departments in the organization are […]
The need for proctoring derives from the perceived need to prevent “academic dishonesty”, aka cheating. The issues with proctoring include 1) the assumption of guilty until proven innocent (all students are potential cheaters), 2) the cost borne by the student directly or indirectly, 3) the Orwellian loss of privacy, and 4) that the vast majority […]
The setting was big, the company was good and the technology talk was buzzing at this year's UBTech Conference, held June 16 to 18 at The Mirage Las Vegas. And based on the feedback from our 1,273 attendees, the "Technology Changes Everything" tagline will be put into practice as administrators and educators from the more […]
The coming change in how student loan default rates are calculated may mean bad news for some colleges and universities. With the new calculations, the rate at which a group of students later defaults on loan payments will increase for most institutions, and schools with a particular default rate for three consecutive years will lose […]
Rising operating costs, unstable revenue streams and continued tough economic times are forcing the campus CFO's role to grow, say higher ed presidents surveyed by executive search firm Witt/Kieffer. In the report, 14 presidents from a mix of public and private institutions of all sizes commented on today's financial pressures. "What was most surprising was […]
Higher education is in the dock in 2014. The questions are flying: Why does it cost so much? Why does it cost more each year? Why do so many students not finish? Why can't they get good jobs? Why is it not equally accessible to all? Why is it not doing a better job training […]
“Copyright is broken,” said Kevin Smith, scholarly communications officer at Duke University, to open his UBTech featured session on intellectual property. Smith, who is an attorney and a librarian, noted that in recent years technological innovation has put a severe strain on our copyright law, which dates from 1976. The law is supposedly technology-neutral, but […]
A graduating senior applying for a position completed a successful phone interview and travelled to a face-to-face interview with the company. Instead of an interview, the candidate was told upon arrival that the company had discovered ‘inappropriate’ posts and behavior in his social media. The candidate was directly rebuked and dismissed without any hope of […]
Getting tripped up on the latest accessibility standards when planning or renovating campus buildings—and then having to make costly changes later—is hardly a project team’s idea of a good time. The mistake may be innocent enough. Take the concept of completing a project in steps, which may have accessibility-related complexities. “There is a lot of […]
