For the American consumer, there is a good deal of persistent confusion about the cost of higher education. Media reports usually point to the high “sticker price,” which does not reflect the actual cost of an education that most American families pay. On the public side, it fails to incorporate the subsidy paid annually to […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Can your school explain what value students get for their tuition dollars?
Penn State responds to pedophilic showers by banning…hiking.
Editor: “We’re cancelling your column.” Me: “Why? I thought it was very popular, to judge by reader’s comments.” Editor: “Oh it is, and we like it quite a bit, too. But we’re worried that you won’t be able to continue to be as good, so we’re ending it before that happens. Sorry.” –Back when I […] … learn more→
Some want to get rid of college majors – here’s how that could go wrong
Should college majors be a thing of the past? That idea received a fresh airing when author Jeffrey Selingo suggested recently that it’s “time to end college majors as we know them.” As a researcher who studies higher education, I concede that something about the way colleges and universities educate students in the United States needs […] … learn more→
The dreaded doctoral defense
Most universities in the United States require a final doctoral defense of your precious work, although the procedures and formats may different from those in other countries. In the U.S., the advisory committee you’ve had a love-hate relationship with throughout your dissertation constitutes your defense committee as well. In other countries, the defense may be […] … learn more→
Wyoming best practices: Destroy Higher Ed
A few years back, I called attention to changes to the way how higher education in Wisconsin was being run. Namely, they were introducing new rules which potentially could eliminate tenure, annihilate academics, and reorganize higher education into a jobs training program. Naturally, the politicos making the changes said that the “potential” was just pure […] … learn more→
Are universities such as Oxford biased towards class or race?
A senior lecturer in my department – a white, working-class woman – was telling me about her daughter who was applying to Ucas a few years ago. When she suggested Oxbridge, her daughter replied, “It’s not for the likes of us, Mum.” Her mother was sad and disheartened that even as a university academic, her child didn’t feel that her […] … learn more→
Students need IT skills to compete in the new economy
By 2026, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 13 percent over what it was in 2016. Jobs in these fields will require skills in cloud computing, big data collection and storage, information security and more. As I argue in a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Monetary Economics with Giovanni Gallipoli, these information technology – […] … learn more→
The Computer scientist “shortage”
Although there is a Ph.D. glut for much of higher education, there is one field where there’s something of a shortage: computer science. A recent article on Inside Higher Ed highlights the immense cluelessness of the “leaders” which led to this situation, although the author of the article seems to miss this detail: System Crash […] … learn more→
Academic life: don’t paint it black
A young Mick Jagger couldn’t get no satisfaction, and on the cusp of his middle age he was desperate “to do some living before we die”. If the dominant mood of the young is angst, for those over 40 it is regret. That is certainly true for me. As a middle-aged university lecturer, I am less […] … learn more→
How a humanities degree will serve you in a disruptive economy
I don’t know why we call them “soft skills.” They’re certainly not easy to learn, although they are as valuable and necessary as the skills doctors use in surgery, bankers use to assess risk and physicists use to split atoms. Communication, observation, empathy and logical thinking: These precious and frequently undervalued skills have everyday names. […] … learn more→
