Last week, leaders from business, labor, and higher education celebrated the public launch of Credential Engine’s Credential Registry. A web-based system for finding and comparing education and training credentials, the Credential Registry stands to transform the way employers, institutions, and learners at all levels evaluate and compare different credentials when making education, career, and hiring decisions. […] … learn more→

In one of her first public acts as the new mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan signed an executive order last month to phase in a free college tuition program. The program promises up to two years of free tuition at a Seattle community or technical college for recent graduates of Seattle’s public high schools. The Seattle Promise […] … learn more→

Research proposals, funding applications, research trips, conference attendance, journal articles, writing up, editing, viva prep, corrections, final submission…a doctorate is a long process, physically and emotionally draining, but worth it for the degree, the postnomial letters, the graduation celebrations. But what if you don’t get these? What if, at the end of the three or […] … learn more→

Wherever you live, whatever college you attend, whatever discipline is your major, and whatever year of study you are currently at, you will face a research paper writing assignment anyway. You probably have already written essays where you had to use your analytical skills. But you could have made a wrong guess and chosen a […] … learn more→

The maelstrom that erupted last month at Wilfrid Laurier University has since spread far beyond the campus ground — a teaching assistant opened up a vitriolic free speech debate across Canada by showing a video of a conservative professor who opposes Bill C-16 and refuses to use gender-neutral pronouns. The incident became a national story when the mainstream media uncritically amplified […] … learn more→

For the first time in nearly a decade, the United States Congress is about to take up legislation to upgrade the Higher Education Act – the federal law that governs how the federal government supports and regulates higher education institutions. The process began earlier this month, when U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North […] … learn more→

  Parents want their children to succeed and the only way to do that is getting a college degree. However, transitioning from high school to college is quite difficult, as most students are forced to leave their home behind. It is up to the parents to help their teenager make this transition as smooth as […] … learn more→

Given the entirely appropriate degree of respect that science has for data, the ongoing discussion of peer review is often surprisingly data-free and underlain by the implicit assumption that peer review – although in need of improvement – is indispensable. The thing is, the peer review of scientific reports is not only without documented value […] … learn more→

When I rant about the corruption of higher ed, I’m pretty careful to put some weasel-ly qualifiers: “most” institutions are corrupt, “most” degrees are worthless, “many” administrators are there to plunder the schools, and so on. When I consider those schools which don’t fit the general rule, usually the schools which come to mind are […] … learn more→

Higher education is expensive. It is more expensive, in fact, than many people realise because many of the costs of higher education originate with a set of activities that are not well understood by outsiders. Teaching in its strictest sense is only one part of these costs. The most obvious other costs include research and […] … learn more→