Since its founding in 1856, Niagara University, steps from the Canadian border in upstate New York, has been an international university with students and faculty members from our neighbors to the north. Niagara is governed by a Board of Trustees and sponsored by the Vincentian Community, a religious community with a tradition of missionary work, […]
Alice L. Brown doesn't pull punches when discussing the problems of leadership at the small schools that constitute the Appalachian College Association. Some, she says, are barely surviving and their leaders seem reluctant to take the steps necessary to change course. Brown served 15 years as president of the Appalachian College Association, a nonprofit consortium […]
The momentum building behind higher ed analytics is hardly surprising, considering the explosion of tech tools available to make sense of institutional data. What might surprise some, though, is who on campus is responsible for predictive analytics. Rather than assigning the task to institutional research or creating a new department, schools are tapping administrators in […]
Just as websites morphed from digital brochures into versatile multimedia portals, electronic portfolios have evolved from information repositories to robust tools for showcasing student learning. Now generally referred to as “ePortfolios,” these software systems house completed assignments, reflections on learning, photos, creative work and journal entries—all evidence of a student’s education. “It is a personal, […]
It has been demonstrated amply that financial aid leveraging can, under the right circumstances, increase enrollment and net tuition revenue. For some, however, that isn't the case. Enrollment leaders must therefore assess other aspects of recruitment to determine how effectively they are working to build larger, more committed applicant and admit pools, especially when increases […]
The power of the admissions interview is, in context and value, unmatched by any other element of the enrollment process, says Jonathan Burdick of the University of Rochester. The meetings "add color to what is otherwise a black-and-white representation of a student, or add a third dimension to what is otherwise flat pieces of paper," […]
The growing availability of custom and commercial software applications allows colleges and universities to transform classroom laboratory experiences into virtual equivalents that offer advantages over their physical precursors. This change is gradually evolving at higher ed institutions across the nation and the globe. For example, New Mexico State University has made virtual science labs available […]
Vocation. This is a word with deep and important significance. Liberal Arts. This is an ideal of education with an equally deep set of meanings. Liberal arts colleges already do a great job developing a diverse group of socially responsible, critical thinkers, but they must start guiding students to their true vocation. For liberal arts […]
This FutureShock is the third in a trilogy of commentaries on the for-profit (private sector) higher education industry and the implications of an increasingly complex and skeptical regulatory environment. In this piece we focus on the emergent, some say irreversible, megatrend turning private sector schools, colleges, and universities into nonprofits and vice versa. Consumer activist […]
