When the national averages for freshman retention rates at public schools sits around 64 percent and private schools hover around 70 percent, there's clearly room for improvement in ensuring students return to campus the following fall. Of course, students and parents seem especially clued in to retention rates, as no one wants to get settled […]
Clouds that emerged throughout 2017 are hanging over the heads of campus administrators, posing potentially huge impacts to higher ed as a whole. Just a few of the significant national developments include: the proposed $9 billion in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education for fiscal year 2018—which if implemented will affect Stafford Loan financing, […]
We asked: What are your predictions, hopes and concerns for 2018? Administrators and experts who have recently contributed to UB answered. A link to each contributor’s recent column appears under their name. “College students are wired to think about their future. Higher education must start early to create meaningful career development experiences for students by […]
Our discovery of new pathways to healthy living and learning begins in Methuen, Massachusetts, a city with a proud heritage in industrial manufacturing. Today, Methuen – with affordable housing, quality healthcare, an aspiring public school system, and youth athletic activities – is an increasingly attractive gateway from Greater Boston to the south and the White […]
Community, faculty and student engagement are important components of college and university strategic and facility planning. But many traditional methods of gauging opinion or gathering input—such as surveys or town hall meetings—are flawed and can be misleading, often being disproportionately influenced by the loudest or most negative voices. In this web seminar, presenters discussed the […]
Higher education has unique needs when it comes to student engagement, from the recruitment cycle through alumni relations. More of today’s institutions are taking new approaches, going beyond the typical point solution mindset and toward a ‘whole campus’ strategy by employing a single engagement platform. Today’s engagement platforms are able to integrate data from multiple […]
Keeping employees engaged while minimizing turnover is a crucial component of institutional success, but unfortunately many colleges and universities are hampered by a culture of disengagement. Recent studies have found that many faculty members and other employees feel they are not engaged with their work. How can higher ed leaders address this common challenge by […]
Describe the importance of retiree health issues when designing health care benefits for retirees. What concerns are you focused on? From our members’ standpoint, they’re concerned with the fact that they’re living longer and they want to enjoy life. Our retirees have an average age of 74. We have 6,000 retired teachers over the age […]
The higher education press has been filled recently with stories about abrupt firings of presidents and other senior executives at universities and colleges across the nation. What was once an infrequent occurrence now seems a weekly, almost daily event. Speculating on the reasons for this trend—financial pressures, decreasing enrollment, board dissension or the injection of […]
For some states, democratizing higher education begins with simplifying its offerings. Under a new proposal by President Ray Cross, the University of Wisconsin would merge the state’s 13 two-year colleges into its system. The consolidation may help keep Wisconsin’s two-year colleges afloat, as higher ed student populations and high school graduate numbers continue to decline. […]
