The number of higher ed institutions rethinking how they screen and accept new students continues to grow. In recent months, Stanford, Princeton and Brown universities announced that they would make SAT and ACT scores optional in the admissions process. Since 2005, more than 1,000 accredited colleges and universities have made the scores optional—or have ignored […]
How is higher ed performing with the “intrusive” approach to academic advising? “Most schools that we have consulted with are still taking a reactive approach to working with struggling students and are waiting until academic performance or engagement suffers. The most successful schools are implementing a proactive approach and engaging pre-start to guide students through […]
Although "intrusive advising" is rising on the list of higher ed buzzwords, this approach is likely more than a passing trend. As colleges strive for greater levels of student success, some are finding this strategy can bring higher retention rates and, in turn, help the bottom line. Intrusive advising isn't just a rebranding of traditional […]
In the July 2018 issue of UB, Richard L. Riccardi, senior associate provost and dean of libraries at Rider University in New Jersey, writes that "institutions have begun to see a culture of data-informed decision-making as a necessity instead of a luxury. Making good decisions depends on quality data and less on intuition or anecdotes." The […]
Job candidates have questions they never ask during interviews. Is this an ethical school? Will I agree with its direction? Will I like my colleagues? Some recruiters tightly script the interview process, leaving no wiggle room for anything else, which makes some candidates wonder about a school's transparency. Everyone wants transparency in the workplace, which creates […]
There are times when we could all use a fresh start. Scott Cowen was given that opportunity in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as the then-president of Tulane University in New Orleans. The tragedy led to an institutional soul-searching that would result in a "rebirth" of the university with a new focus on […]
How does Dominican University engage students? This year, we streamlined the student experience to bring information about their progress toward a degree, such as their GPA, advisor and credits earned. We’re now working with Jenzabar to incorporate more of a mobile app experience so we can do additional push notifications to students. We also leverage […]
The fairness of race in admissions is again under question. A lawsuit brought against Harvard University by the nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions contends the institution systematically discriminates against Asian-American applicants. This is compounded by Harvard's 2013 internal investigation that found the Asian-American representation in its student population would increase from its current 19 percent to 43 […]
Academics The mantra of “if you build it, they will come” has a bit of truth when recruiting international students to community colleges. “The most fundamental thing that we do is make sure we’re providing quality programs, because the best way to attract new students is through word of mouth,” says Denise Kinsella, interim dean of […]
