Consider the accounting clerk who coordinates community events; the help desk manager who moonlights as an exercise coach; or even the campus registrar who is also a freelance writer. Colleges and universities are loaded with talent, yet many employees' competencies unrelated to their job are virtually unknown. At a time when budgets are tight, activities […]
Colleges and universities are ramping up services for international freshmen and sophomores as administrators increasingly look abroad to further diversify their campuses and to expand enrollment with students who pay full tuition. International students face adjustments in and outside of the classroom—from unanticipated language barriers to stricter standards of academic integrity to joining the campus […]
If you build it, they will come. Your alumni are already Facebooking, tweeting and linking in, in ever-increasing numbers. Colleges and universities are taking advantage of this activity to launch and grow robust social networks of graduates that strengthen alumni engagement, boost volunteerism and stimulate giving. "Over the years we've spent so much time and […]
At a time when the gulf between liberals and conservatives seems to be wider than ever, there is one topic about which they agree: the reasons for the rising cost of a college education. Why do colleges and universities keep raising tuition, asks Timothy Noah in The New Republic? Because they can. And Allysia Finley […]
Despite technology's critical role in higher ed, there remains a gap between central IT and the rest of campus that can lead to unnecessary spending. Recent findings of a MeriTalk survey of 52 U.S. higher ed IT professionals illustrate this discrepancy. An average of 18 percent of campus IT systems are redundant, and 19 percent […]
Institutions that are successful in preventing loan defaults make it a campuswide effort, according to a recent survey by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). Nine community college administrators from institutions of varying sizes and locations were asked about traits of their borrowers and defaulters, […]
There's a standard practice in academia that's highly valued; yet, at many colleges and universities, the policies and procedures surrounding it haven't changed in decades. Until now. The faculty sabbatical has been around since Harvard University first offered it to its teaching staff in 1880. Since then, sabbaticals have become a rite of passage for […]
First-year MBA students in the action-based degree program at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business spend seven weeks working with a U.S. or international company. After that, they form seven-member teams to propose a solution to a problem they encountered in the corporate world. But this learning process isn't just about the instruction—it's also […]
The U.S. economy has been through major changes in the last several years, and the effects are being felt on campus. In many cases, this turmoil shows up publicly in the form of a credit-rating downgrade. On some campuses, a change in the credit rating has no effect on the day-to-day operations; on others, it […]
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 […]