Paul Fain
Inside Higher Ed
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Business Group Wants Emphasis on Skills in Hiring
The Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs, on Thursday announced a new, multiyear project to "reform companies' hiring and talent management practices" to emphasize the value of skills -- rather than just college degrees. The group also is seeking to improve equity in both hiring and advancement on the job. “Opportunities for employment and advancement can and should come from → Read More
Amazon Says 30,000 Employees Have Used 'Upskilling' Program
Amazon on Tuesday said 30,000 of its employees have participated in the company's Career Choice program, which pays 95 percent of the tuition and fees for skills training for a credential in high-demand fields. The company said it has spent $60 million on the "upskilling" program, which allows its front-line employees to find jobs elsewhere. “Career Choice is one way we help → Read More
Making Online Education and Workforce Training More Effective
Millions of displaced U.S. workers and the likely restructuring of industries -- including retail, travel, hospitality and more -- have increased urgency to improve workforce training in this country, according to new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Task Force on the Future of Work. Three new research briefs from the MIT task force explore the → Read More
Adtalem to Acquire Walden University from Laureate
Adtalem Global Education announced today that it will acquire Walden University, an online institution that enrolls 48,000 students, from Laureate University. Adtalem agreed to a pay $1.48 billion for Walden, the company said. The for-profit Walden has one of the largest online enrollments in the U.S., following just the University of Phoenix and Grand Canyon University in → Read More
Questions for Kevin Carey about his proposal for a broad restructuring of higher education
Kevin Carey answers questions about his proposal to reshape higher education with a new federal subsidy tied to requirements for participating colleges to join uniform pricing and credit-transfer systems. → Read More
Koch Foundation and Others Fund ASU's Higher Ed 'Redesign'
Arizona State University last week announced that the Charles Koch Foundation and a group of other philanthropies will give the university $12 million for an initiative aimed at driving innovations across higher education in the U.S. ASU's University Design Institute is coordinating the effort to support other universities in "culture change initiatives" that are designed to → Read More
Rice Gets $100 Million for Advanced Materials Research
Rice University on Thursday announced it will receive $100 million from the Robert A. Welch Foundation to establish a new institute on campus that will focus on advanced materials research for energy systems, sustainable water, space systems, biomedical materials, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, security and more. The gift is the largest in the university's → Read More
Community Colleges Seek More Parity in COVID Aid
A coalition of community colleges, dubbed Rebuilding America's Middle Class, has called on the U.S. Congress to reconsider how federal COVID-19 relief aid is distributed to postsecondary institutions. The current process is skewed against two-year colleges, which enroll relatively high percentages of underserved student groups, the group said. For example, 44.6 percent of all → Read More
Latinos' Degree Completion Increases; Equity Gaps Remain
College degree attainment among Latinos has increased substantially in recent years, according to a new analysis from Excelencia in Education. The nonprofit group found that 24 percent of Latino adults in the U.S. now hold a college degree, up from 19 percent a decade ago. Yet equity gaps remain. For example, 46 percent of white, non-Latino adults hold a degree -- a gap of 22 → Read More
Americans seeking to change job fields prefer nondegree training to make the jump
A quarter of Americans say they would pursue education or training within six months if they lost their job, but most prefer nondegree training over the traditional college route. → Read More
College football players test positive for virus as HBCUs cancel four games
Four games set to feature historically black colleges are canceled, and positive tests spread to many major university programs as players return. → Read More
The pandemic has worsened equity gaps in higher education and work
The pandemic has accelerated and worsened equity gaps in higher education and its connection to work, according to new data, which may also show paths to improving this connection. → Read More
The pandemic has worsened equity gaps in higher education and work
The pandemic has accelerated and worsened equity gaps in higher education and its connection to work, according to new data, which may also show paths to improving this connection. → Read More
Syracuse to Test Sewage for Coronavirus
Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry are planning to routinely test sewage leaving residence halls to look for signs of the novel coronavirus before students become sick with COVID-19, reports Syracuse.com. The University of California, San Diego, also has announced plans to test wastewater on campus. If testing → Read More
Pence, DeVos Hold Call With 14 College Presidents
Vice President Mike Pence held a call Tuesday with leaders of 14 colleges and universities. They were joined by Betsy DeVos, the U.S. secretary of education, and Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, in a discussion about "best practices to get students back to school in the fall," according to a news release from the vice president's office. The → Read More
Senator Alexander: Testing Levels Inadequate to Open Campuses
Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate's education committee, on Sunday praised coronavirus testing in the U.S., citing Johns Hopkins University research that eight million tests have conducted, more per capita even than South Korea. But Alexander said current testing capacity remains inadequate for reopening large college and university → Read More
Furlough, Job Cut Plan Approved for University System of Georgia
The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia has granted the system authority for a plan to possibly cut jobs or furlough employees. The system said it is working with its 26 colleges and universities to develop a new spending plan for the 2021 fiscal year that would feature a 14 percent reduction from the current fiscal year. Georgia's tax revenues dropped by → Read More
Steep Decline in FAFSA Renewals
New federal data show a substantial drop in renewals of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by returning college students, according to an analysis from the National College Attainment Network. Almost 250,000 fewer returning students from the lowest-income backgrounds have renewed their FAFSA for the 2020-21 cycle, NCAN said, and FAFSA renewals were down nearly 5 → Read More
Primer for States on College Closures
Citing the unprecedented emergency the coronavirus pandemic poses to the financial health of colleges and universities -- and the disproportionate impact of college closures on low-income students and students of color -- the National Governors Association and New America have released a guide for states in managing college closures. “Ultimately, states should put the impact → Read More
Primer for States on College Closures
Citing the unprecedented emergency the coronavirus pandemic poses to the financial health of colleges and universities -- and the disproportionate impact of college closures on low-income students and students of color -- the National Governors Association and New America have released a guide for states in managing college closures. “Ultimately, states should put the impact → Read More