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• Fresno Pacific University is starting a bachelor of science in nursing.
• Indiana University Southeast is starting a bachelor of science in art education.
• Indiana Wesleyan University is starting a master's of science in athletic training.
• Meredith College is starting an online M.A. in criminal justice.
• Oberlin College is starting a one-year professional certificate in recording arts and a two-year artist diploma that incorporates both recording arts and production.
• University of Wisconsin System is starting an online master's degree in cybersecurity to be offered by the UW Extended Campus and eight system campuses.
• Western Illinois University is starting a minor in cannabis production.

A new agreement between the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia has signaled a renewed commitment to cooperate on issues that protect student interests and the reputation of Australia’s independent higher education sector.

TEQSA is AustraliaÔÇÖs independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency for higher education, and ITECA is the peak body representing independent providers in the higher education, vocational education, training and skills sectors.

“As challenges arise in the sector, TEQSA and ITECA can collaborate”

Of the 1.5 million students in higher education in Australia, nearly 10% are with independent higher education providers.

ÔÇ£Independent providers are a valued component of the higher education sector and have a track-record of delivering great outcomes for students,” said Anthony McClaran, TEQSA chief executive officer.

“This new memorandum of understanding with ITECA strengthens our positive engagement with independent providers and allows TEQSA to work to identify emerging trends in the sector and respond as appropriate,ÔÇØ

TEQSA and ITECA have enjoyed a long-standing collaborative relationship which is underpinned by a shared interest in supporting independent higher education providersÔÇÖ commitment to quality.

ÔÇ£The open engagement that we have with TEQSA, underpinned by this agreement, ensures that our membersÔÇÖ views are fully considered as the regulator undertakes its compliance activity,” added Troy Williams, ITECA chief executive.

“As challenges arise in the sector, TEQSA and ITECA can collaborate on the best way to support independent higher education providers.”

The post TEQSA-ITECA MoU signals new era of cooperation appeared first on The PIE News.

Higher education solutions company Worldview has launched a Study in Ghana initiative with the aim of attracting students from Africa, Europe, Asia, and America to study in the west African country.

A coalition of institutions in Ghana powered by recruitment platform┬áfindadmission.com, the launch of Study in Ghana was welcomed by the country’s minister of Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who said it fits into the government’s initiatives to promote Ghana around the world and encourage investment into the country.

“It is time to let the world know that Africa being recorded as the birth site of civilisation is not a myth”

The minister said the country is now open to attract international students and to improving the quality of education in the continent.

The aim of the initiative is to help international students with their application process and answer all questions they might have about living and studying in Ghana.

Through the service, students can enrol in full degree programs, participate in summer schools and exchange programs provided by Ghanaian universities.

Founder of findadmission.com and the CEO of Worldview, Folabi Obembe, said he has always been critical of the phrase ÔÇÿbrain drain in AfricaÔÇÖ because he┬ábelieves that mobility enriches teaching and learning.

He said his only concern was the fact that the mobility of students in Africa is always “one way” with no stream of students coming to Africa to study.

“This is why we decided to embark on a journey to promote countries in Africa as a study destination and to encourage a more organised migration of students in the continent,”┬áObembe said.

“It is time to let the world know that Africa being recorded as the birth site of civilisation is not a myth. We started this movement in Ghana because we believe that Ghana has all it requires to take the lead in marketing its education sector within Africa and around the world,” he added.

In cooperation with member institutions in Ghana, Worldview will use its global student recruitment platform and experience in international education marketing to make the application procedures easier and more efficient for both students and the universities.

“Study in Ghana is here to support student mobility within Africa, present African institutions to the rest of the world, make quality education more accessible, and to increase general knowledge about Ghana worldwide,” added Obembe.

“Study in Ghana is ideal for students interested in summer school, study abroad programs or pursuing a full undergraduate or masterÔÇÖs degree in Ghana. We are making the necessary information readily available, connecting students and institutions, and we are constantly working on making the application procedures as simple and smooth as possible.”

The post Worldview launches Study in Ghana appeared first on The PIE News.

Following a number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy, sector stakeholders have told The PIE News of the impact that the postponement or cancellation of student trips could potentially have on their businesses.

The Italian ministry of education has restricted school educational trips with in the country and abroad due to the virus for a period of two weeks at least, while individuals can still travel.

The Lombardy and Veneto regions in the north of the country have the majority of confirmed cases of coronavirus.┬á On February 25, however, more cases were detected in the south of the country ÔÇô in Tuscany and Sicily.

“For certain it has had an immediate negative impact both on Italian agencies and foreign schools”

Italy’s minister of education Lucia Azzolina said the┬ásuspension of educational trips since Sunday is a “precaution that in my opinion is necessary for this scenario”.

“The government and health authorities are doing serious and painstaking work taking into account a rapidly changing picture,”┬áAzzolina said.

The Italian Association of Language Consultants and Agents added the ministry has frozen every kind of school trip and study trip in Italy as well as abroad for a period of 14 days.

“As a result, those groups of students that have already booked flights, courses and accommodation have remained and will remain in Italy,” IALCA said in a statement.

Pina Foti president of┬áIALCA explained that it is “hard to say” if the suspension will be extended beyond 14 days.

“For certain it has had an immediate negative impact both on Italian agencies and foreign schools,” she said, adding that the group will maintain direct contact with the ministry in order to provide updates on the evolving situation to agents and school partners.

“IALCA trusts in the foreign schoolsÔÇÖ understanding and flexibility with regard to a possible rescheduling of school groupsÔÇÖ departures and dates of stay.”

But regardless of the destination, school groups have been cancelling their departure, Paolo Barilari, IALCA vice president and owner of Lingue nel Mondo told The PIE.

“In low season most of the business is with school groups,” Barilari said.

Reimbursements and postponing courses were vital to┬á“reduce to the minimum the negative economic effect of this situation”,┬áhe added.

“Groups give a very low net profit to the agents; being forced to reimburse the students would be very difficult. That is why we rely on the flexibility of the language schools and of the airline companies.”

Principal of inlingua Cheltenham, David Arrowsmith, noted that three Italian groups booked for March will likely be affected due to the ministry’s decision, as well as┬áindividuals for the school’s general and business English courses.

“At the moment we have only received a cancellation from a company in Italy who had four corporate clients booked with us for the month of March ÔÇô they may come later in the year – we do not know,” he said.

“Financially we will lose about ┬ú60,000 in March and going forward up to ┬ú150-200k”

“We anticipate that the three groups booked in March will cancel, although still no word.

“I am thinking the Italian agents likewise are holding back cancelling at the moment in the hope the ban will be lifted. But I think the March groups will cancel and from April onwards we will see.”

If the ban continues into the┬ásummer inlingua would “potentially have five-six groups cancel and other individuals,” Arrowsmith said, adding that the┬áimpact will then become “significant” for his school.

“I should imagine for the large chain schools the damage would be hard to deal with as Italian is such a huge summer market for the UK,” he said.

“If all cancel, financially we will lose about ┬ú60,000 in March and going forward up to ┬ú150-200k which for a single school like us is significant.”

Chinese and Japanese group cancellations is also compounding the situation for many, Arrowsmith added.

Delfin English School London general manager, Mike Summerfield, explained that one group due to start this week had cancelled on Monday.

“We have a contract this summer for more than 350 students over six weeks across both our locations. Hopefully, the travel ban will be finished by then,” he said.

St Giles International‘s Group Sales and Marketing director & deputy CEO, Hannah Lindsay, said that despite not having any Italian groups arriving imminently the school has groups for the summer who are still planning on coming.

“We believe that the fears surrounding the virus are affecting Italian bookings though, according to our overseas partners there,” she added.

Commercial manager at Bayswater College, Jamie Tyler, said he does not expect any groups to travel from Italy before March 8, resulting in some cancellations.

“We remain hopeful that these groups will postpone their travel rather than cancel and are working with our partners to offer flexibility with travel dates,” he noted.

“This is a time where we need to be supportive of our partners”

“This is a time where we need to be supportive of our partners and be aware that decisions from parents may be delayed and be prepared for shorter notice of travel.”

Co-founder and president of Italian agency┬áCrewative┬áFabio Boccio told The PIE┬áthat although he didn’t have any groups for the next two weeks, he does for the summer.

“I hope the situation will be better, which despite my positive mindset, I don’t think will be the case,” he explained.

“What it is happening is pretty much catastrophic, but the fact that I have been able to diversify my offer in the past two years has protected my business.”

Jodie Gray, interim chief executive of English UK, said: “We are working with IALCA, the Department for International Trade and the British Council to get the most up-to-date information for our members in a fast-moving situation. WeÔÇÖre also seeking legal advice on the situation around refunds which we hope to be able to share in the coming days.

“Many of our members have groups booked over the next two or three weeks and we really feel for them.”

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The Ministry of Education in Thailand has held a meeting with several embassies to discuss how to recruit more English language teachers for schools across the country.

The Bangkok Post reported education minister Nataphol Teepsuwan as saying ÔÇ£a large number of teachers are necessary as we are working on upgrading the entire education systemÔÇØ following the meeting.

English FirstÔÇÖs English-language proficiency index currently ranks Thailand in the 74th spot out of 100. Levels of English are slightly higher in cities such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai and lower in the South and North East.

“[The proficiency of] approximately 75% of English teachers [is] below B1ÔÇØ

The British Council in Thailand told The PIE News┬áthat a lack of English proficiency in the country is exacerbated by the proficiency of ÔÇ£approximately 75% of English teachers [being] below B1ÔÇØ and teaching methodology that is often ÔÇ£traditional and not communicativeÔÇØ.

From 2016-18 the British Council worked with Thailand on a professional development program to help 17,000 teachers improve their English skills.

However, the Thai government appears to be particularly focused on hiring teachers from abroad. There are currently around 7,000 foreign teachers in Thai schools but they say a further 10,000 are required.

Foreign English teachers in the country come from varied backgrounds, some being graduates who come to teach for a semester or two, while others are professionally qualified teachers at international schools and universities.

Three years ago, Thailand released a report on how it plans to modernise its education system covering 2017-2036 in which it promotes extensive reform to the current education system as the country prepares to “overcome the middle-income trap towards developed country status within the next 15 years”.

It particularly noted its work with organisations such as the UN and ASEAN, in addition to cooperation with other countries, as showing its intentions towards “improving the quality of education and personnel towards international standards”.

“The Ministry of Education has put an emphasis on proactive action to build strong relationships with Ministries of Education in other countries both at regional and international levels,” the report added.

The British Council further said that discussions regarding teachers were at an early stage and ongoing.

The post Thailand: Embassies to help find teachers appeared first on The PIE News.

The English Language Testing Society announced its official launch on February 18, hoping to┬ábecome the “leading advocate for excellence in English language testing”.

A community of assessment specialists, test developers, language teachers, program administrators, and all other stakeholders interested best practices related to English language testing, the organisation hopes to raise awareness for best practice in English language testing, according to ELTS president Eddy White.

“ELTS will work to advance, improve, promote and develop a wider understanding of guidelines and best practices for language assessment systems”

ELTS is to advocate for excellence in English language testing “throughout the world”, while also advancing improvement and promoting the English language testing profession.

Membership is open to those new to the field as well as long time professionals, and anyone who joins┬ábefore March 20 will be classified as the ÔÇ£founding membersÔÇØ.

With a strong dedication for promoting English language testing at a high standard, ELTS has an international mix of members on their board of trustees.

“We are very excited to launch this new society. ELTS will work to advance, improve, promote and develop a wider understanding of guidelines and best practices for language assessment systems worldwide,” explained White.

ELTS is hosted by the Division of Continuing and Professional Education at the University of California, Davis.

Annual membership information may be found here.

The post US: English Language Testing Society launched appeared first on The PIE News.

The University of the West of England is aiming to triple enrolments from India and Nepal on its UK campus as it announces a dedicated recruitment office in the region.

UWE Bristol is working with M Square Media to establish its in-country presence, including a dedicated team to manage agent relationships and admission processes.

“We want people to come and say they had the best experience studying at the university and the UK”

“We are looking for balance in quality and quantity in our student recruitment,”┬ásaid Ray Priest, professor and international director for the Asia Pacific at UWE Bristol.

“We want people to come and say they had the best experience studying at the university and the UK, and talk to their family and friends in India about it,” he added.

Agent networking summits UWE Bristol led in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Kochi in India, and Kathmandu in Nepal throughout February each attracted 80 to 100 agents assisting students to attain their study-abroad goals.

The institution also anticipates benefits from the┬áUK’s upcoming post-study work visa, which┬áwill take effect for all international students starting their studies in autumn 2020 or later.

The partnership represents a big step for MSM coming into the UK market, according to the company which partners with 40 higher education institutions in Canada, the US, UK, Australia, and other key markets.

MSM is also affiliated with over 4,500 education agents around the globe.

“We are excited to replicate MSMÔÇÖs success with Canadian colleges and universities to this part of the world, and bridge the gap between highly qualified Indian students and UK institutions,” added Sanjay Laul, CEO and founder of MSM.

The post UWE targets India and Nepal growth with MSM p’ship appeared first on The PIE News.

The emergence of a new breed of digital skills schools ÔÇô coding academies and technology bootcamps promising high employment rates after graduation in a matter of months ÔÇô are not the threat to universities that some might argue, according to a panel of veteran edtech investors.

Universities’ biggest competitors will be other tertiary educators who react to the changing student marketplace and partner with commercial operators to offer a hybrid of “legacy” and “new tech” skills and learning.

This is a view posited by three edtech investors with significant experience operating in the space, who shared their thoughts at an HolonIQ summit on the future of education & the workforce held in December in London, UK.

“Our view is that partnering with universities in various ways is a good thing”

“I actually believe the bigger competitor to universities which are not changing in that direction, are other universities that are, as opposed to boot camps,” stated┬áJan Lynn-Matern, founder & CEO of Emerge Education.

Lynn-Matern, who heads up a European venture capital fund, was responding to a question about future challenges to the traditional university learning environment.

“I think they [coding boot camps, etc.] are a very significant element of the answer,” he continued. “But I don’t think they’re the biggest threat to universities, because when you buy an education, you’re buying the brand value of whatever institution you go to.

“The fact is that universities are state-protected oligopolies. It’s very difficult to create a new university and impossible to build a university that has 150-year old brand value because that takes 150 years.

“So if a few universities figure out, how to become a) scalable, and b) produce content in an agile way and actually produce real skills, I think they are the biggest threat.”

Lynn-Matern was joined on the panel by George Straschnov of Bisk Ventures in the US and Alex Spiro, partner of Brighteye Ventures also based in the UK.

Straschnov said Bisk Ventures’ investments in the last couple of years had focused on non-traditional content being delivered through a university lens, utilising best-in-class technology.

“I think whereas edtech was [once] more about a specific technology to solve a specific problem, now, as technology is being married with content in a myriad of different ways, our view is that partnering with universities in various ways to do that is a good thing,” he shared.

“So we really look for where we see those intersections, bringing that to market in ways we think would serve the need ÔÇô that I think we all agree exists ÔÇô in the marketplace.”

Straschnov revealed that many of the tech bootcamp businesses were looking to raise their next round of funding, and in the process, he had gained insights into what some felt they had got wrong as they developed.

“The fact is that universities are state-protected oligopolies”

“It was that they neglected a lot of the things that the liberal arts college┬á[would provide],” he shared.

“They would say, we can teach languages really well, we can teach people to code, but we really need to teach them to be able to┬átalk to each other and.. get them to write an email where they can communicate… we realise [they’re] talking about an English degree,” he said with a smile.

Bisk-backed Make School has partnered with a liberal arts school, also in the Bay area, he revealed, to great effect. Students on a fast-track two-year degree are “really getting the best of both worlds”, he said, with significantly cheaper fees and “a 95% placement rate“.

Investments made by Bisk Ventures include Make School and Red Academy; Brighteye Ventures has invested into tech skills bootcamp Iron Hack, while Emerge has backed The London Interdisciplinary School, a new university which offers paid work placements with internship partners that include Virgin, Innocent, Funding Circle and the Met Police.

Spiro shared that IronHack offered nine-week courses that could see participants of the course gain a 30% bump in salary, and it had an 88% placement rate.

On the same topic of employability, Dyson Institute spoke with UK universities at a UUKi event earlier this year. It revealed that this major engineering employer has also partnered with the University of Warwick to deliver degrees which offer paid employment and a guaranteed job offer if students gain a 2:1.

The post Agile universities that partner will succeed, say edtech investors appeared first on The PIE News.

After celebrating the Lunar New Year earlier this month, thousands of students at U.S. universities in China have resumed classes. But the campuses are eerily quiet, and classrooms remain empty. That's because classes have moved online in the wake of the coronavirus.

The transition from face-to-face to fully online wasn’t one leaders at institutions such as Duke Kunshan University and New York University Shanghai had planned for. Preparing to teach a course online for the first time usually takes several months. Faculty at institutions in China have done it in less than three weeks -- a remarkable feat.

“It’s been highly stressful, but at the same time, the clarity of the crisis has brought us together,” said Clay Shirky, vice provost for educational technologies at NYU in New York, who was part of the team that helped colleagues at NYU Shanghai launch their courses online.

Faced with the decision to either close the Shanghai campus and suspend teaching indefinitely or try and keep students on track, leaders at NYU chose the latter, said Shirky. “It took us a while to realize that we really needed to move the semester online,” he said. “Looking back, I wish we had made the call a little earlier.”

Hopeful that students would be able to return to campus after the holidays, NYU Shanghai planned to reopen on Feb. 3. When travel restrictions were introduced, the semester's start date was pushed to Feb. 10. Then the Chinese Ministry of Education ordered universities across the nation not to reopen their doors, leaving faculty with a tight deadline to move classes online.

So far, things are going surprisingly well, said Jace Hargis, director of the NYU Shanghai Teaching and Learning Center. He has been closely monitoring progress since classes began Feb. 17. Initial student feedback has been good, and faculty members report feeling increasingly confident in their ability to teach online, he said. The vast majority of faculty -- 88 percent -- did not have significant experience teaching online previously.

“Before day one, a lot of faculty said they were feeling a bit anxious. They weren’t sure what students would think,” said Hargis. “Now they’re feeling a lot better.”

NYU Shanghai faculty aren’t just located in China. Many traveled all over the world during the recent holiday. Now flight restrictions in and out of China mean they can’t go back to their homes. Students, too, are scattered across the globe.

Working across different time zones has been challenging but not impossible, said Hargis. “Ten years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to do this -- the technology wasn’t there,” he said. High-speed internet and advancements in videoconferencing technology made communication much easier.

Through webinars, specially-created online resources, one-on-one consultations, drop-in online office hours and many, many emails, an international team worked with NYU Shanghai faculty to move almost 500 classes online.

“It was a lot of overtime for three weeks, but time well spent,” said Xiaojing Zu, library director at NYU Shanghai in an email. “We already had a collection of ed-tech platforms and tools and tested pedagogies we had been working with faculty to utilize. It was a matter of introducing these tools and methods to more than one hundred faculty in a short time.”

Training sessions focused on teaching faculty to teach with two video-sharing platforms, Zoom and VoiceThread, said Hargis. These tools enable faculty member to teach synchronously or asynchronously as they see fit. To break down the workload, faculty were encouraged to focus on preparing the first two weeks of the 14-week semester. Faculty and students have access to a chat service that operates for 16 hours a day if they have any questions or need help.

For some instructors, moving courses online was a challenge. But so far, the distance learning effort is yielding promising early results.  

For example, Hargis said he worked closely with visiting assistant professor of mathematics Leonardo Rolla, who is currently based in Argentina. “We suggested a lot of things to try and create a caring classroom culture online,” said Hargis. Rolla created an introductory video walking students through the syllabus. He then asked each student to make a video introducing themselves. For their first assignment, students had to film themselves explaining how they would solve an example exercise. Almost all created high-quality videos, with one student sharing that he actually preferred these activities to face-to-face teaching.

Scott Warnock, director of the university writing program at Drexel University, was asked to lead a workshop to help a small group of NYU Shanghai faculty members foster pedagogies specific to teaching writing online. Teaching writing online isn’t straightforward, but there are lots of ways you can engage students using discussion boards, he said. You can assess a student’s ability to present an argument, for example, by asking them to respond to provocative statements such as “students should pay more for college." Warnock likes to post these statements under a pseudonym such as Dr. Logoetho. “It’s tongue-in-cheek and playful. It’s one of my students’ favorite exercises,” he said.

At Duke Kunshan University, faculty had a similarly tight window to put their courses online. Classes started online yesterday after just three weeks’ preparation, said Scott MacEachern, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs at the university. “There were a lot of discussions between DKU and Duke around whether we could really do this, and we decided, yes, we can. Duke has a lot of capability online, and DKU is just 18 months old at this point. Our students and faculty are pioneers. We wanted to keep the energy up.”

NYU and Duke are not the only universities to take classes in China online. Universities across the country are embarking on similar efforts, many utilizing free content from new national massive open online course providers. Coursera, a U.S. based MOOC provider, has made its courses freely accessible to Duke Kunshan students. Matthew Rascoff, associate vice provost for digital education and innovation at Duke, said the offer has proven very popular with students. Online learning at the degree level has long been restricted in China because of concerns about regulation and quality, but Ministry of Education rules have been relaxed to ensure students "keep learning, even with classes suspended."

Whether China's temporary embrace of online learning results in long-term change, remains to be seen. Rascoff is hopeful that at Duke Kunshan at least, the experience will be beneficial. The experience of teaching online can make instructors better teachers in any environment, he said. 

In addition to ensuring faculty and students are safe and healthy, Duke Kunshan and NYU Shanghai have made it easier for students to transfer to other university campuses or postpone their classes. Both institutions have made funds available to students to ensure they have access to high-speed internet and working laptops, tablets or smartphones.

At Fort Hays State, faculty have worked hard to ensure the content they take online is accessible to all students, said Andrew Feldstein, assistant provost for teaching innovation and learning technologies at the university. Fort Hays offers several degree programs through two partner Chinese institutions. “We made making everything mobile-friendly a priority, which added to the challenge,” he said.

It’s been an extraordinary team effort to get ready for the start of the semester, said Feldstein.

"The first thing I thought when I heard the campuses were closed was that this could be a real opportunity for us," said Feldstein. "Often we're slowed down by processes that we don't even question anymore. This allowed us to look at everything in a new light."

Long Island University has frozen new enrollments in undergraduate programs in fields including chemistry, history, philosophy, photography, physics, sociology and public relations in what some faculty view as an assault on the liberal arts core of the institution.

The enrollment freezes follow on eliminations or freezes in recent years of other programs at the New York institution's Post campus, including programs in art history, earth system science, French, Italian, music performance, Spanish, geography and geology. ÔÇïA list of frozen programs provided by the chair of LIU Post's Faculty Council also includes a number of education-related undergraduate programs as well as master's programs predominantly in the liberal arts and education fields.

Ed Weis, LIU's vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement that "most" of the education programs identified as frozen had been renamed or restructured, but he confirmed that some humanities programs had been frozen in line with what he described as a national trend of declining student interest in these areas.

"Over the last several years, LIU has been expanding program offerings in high-demand areas while assessing programs with low enrollment," Weis said. "All academic programs are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are competitive, relevant and of the highest quality for our students. As a result of this best practice, certain programs with very low enrollment of entering students for a number of years were frozen. While new students will not be admitted to these programs, the university will continue to offer the necessary courses for current students to be able to graduate on time within these majors.

"The university has a fiduciary responsibility to provide a rigorous and engaging educational experience for our students," Weis added. "The classroom experience is at its best when faculty engage their students in challenging and interesting peer-to-peer discussions. Classes with a very limited number of students do not allow for this desired level of engagement. In fact, academic programs with only a handful of majors can result in these students taking their upper-level courses as independent studies."

LIU Post, like many private institutions, has seen enrollment declines. Total full-time-equivalent undergraduate and graduate enrollment at the Post campus has declined from 6,029 in 2015 to 5,458 in 2019, a drop of about 9.5 percent, according to data LIU provides to its bondholders. However, the number of enrolled freshmen spiked last fall to 771 students, up from 564 the fall before, an approximately 37 percent increase.

Universitywide, across all campuses, the number of total faculty has declined by 21 percent since 2015, from 1,979 to 1,558.

Audited financial statements show a 14 percent drop in universitywide operating revenues from 2014 to 2019, from about $396.5 million to $341.4 million. But net assets have risen substantially in that time, from about $291 million to roughly $506.9 million.

Faculty at Post say they are alarmed by the program freezes in core liberal arts areas.

“It’s dismaying,” said Jeremy Buchman, the chair of the Faculty Council at LIU Post and an associate professor of political science. “There are a lot of very apprehensive faculty in the affected programs, especially in the arts and sciences. There’s concern about where the arts and sciences stand. There’s concern about our current students and their ability to finish the program that they signed on for. The university has said that current students in the frozen programs will be able to finish. But logistically speaking, it makes life a lot harder for students if you don’t have a new crop of majors, even if it’s a relatively small group that’s going to have an impact on the range of course offerings that current students will have to choose from.”

"Many of the faculty are heartbroken by the choice not to support these programs," said Wendy Ryden, an associate professor of English and the acting president of the faculty union at the Post campus. "We feel that it negatively impacts faculty in their workload and it negatively impacts student choice in terms of what they can be allowed to study when they come here."

The program freezes were first reported by Ashley Bowden, the co-editor of LIU Post campus’s student newspaper, The Pioneer. Bowden, a senior, said other students were dismayed to learn the news.

“They’re just disappointed in seeing these kinds of things happen,” she said. “It’s disheartening for me to have to report something like this where I go to school. As a student in the liberal arts, it’s not very encouraging at all.”

Weis said that the frozen programs "may become viable with curriculum changes. The university has consistently encouraged its academic departments over the years to update their programs to align with student demand."

He noted that the "national trend of declining student demand for certain majors in the humanities is not unique to LIU" and that the university "is deeply committed to a liberal arts education through our core curriculum."

"The recent successful launch of new, in-demand programs is expected to more than offset the loss of small new enrollments in programs that have recently been frozen," Weis said. "These new programs are also driving demand for additional classes in the liberal arts and sciences."

At the same time as enrollment by new majors in core liberal arts disciplines is being frozen, the university is planning to enroll its first students in a new veterinary college this fall. Some faculty have expressed opposition to the opening of the veterinary college at a tuition-driven liberal arts institution. Most veterinary schools are located at major research universities.

Michael A. Soupios, a professor of political science who has taught at LIU for more than 30 years, said that in his opinion, LIU has lost sight of what is meant by “university.”

“I think we’ve lost track of who we are institutionally,” Soupios said. “I am not sure that we are adequately in touch with the very definition, the very meaning of the word 'university.' We seem to be hurtling headlong in the direction of becoming essentially a vocational school. I understand that’s what people are looking for in terms of jobs, but if you want to flatter yourself by calling yourself a university, then you have to act like it, and you have to maintain a curriculum that reflects that.”

Soupios described the use of the word “freeze” as “euphemistic rubbish … Frozen is tantamount to death. You’re not going to be thawed.”

Molly Tambor, an associate professor in history, one of the programs frozen, said she is willing to hold onto the word "freeze" because she is hopeful administrators will work with faculty to unfreeze the affected programs. The history department has already met with administrators and has another meeting planned. She said administrators seem interested in faculty ideas for renewing the program.

"If we’re measuring by student interest and engagement in our courses and in students who declare a major and a minor at any point in their career, then it seems to us that the history program is actually very healthy," she said. "We also feel that a history program at a liberal arts institution is a necessary and vital one and deserves to have investment and resources."

Over the past 15 years, job creation in New York City has grown quickly. But most of those jobs have been in sectors that pay the least, such as food service and retail.

The industry growing the fastest in the city that also pays well is technology.

But the workforce of this sector doesn't reflect the city's diversity, according to Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the Center for an Urban Future, a think tank focused on the city and its economy.

A recent report from the center helps explain why. The group surveyed the landscape of tech training in the city and found that most of the programs, which range from adult continuing education programs at community colleges to nonprofit organizations to popular for-profit boot camps, focus on basic digital literacy and beginner-level skills, with the more advanced programs focused on the wealthier boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

"Only a tiny fraction of the tech programs that we have today are actually aligned with the needs that tech employers have," Dvorkin said. "We want to make sure that we’re not just talking about what the city can do to help more students get on the path to a college credential, but to really look at where are the good jobs growing and what does that skills-building ecosystem look like."

While the report applauds the city for its 506 tech training programs now in place, as well as Mayor Bill de Blasio's commitment to offer computer science courses in every public school by 2025, it points to disparities that must be remedied to increase the diversity of the tech workforce and create opportunities for low-income New Yorkers to move into the middle class.

For instance, Manhattan and Brooklyn are home to 317 of the 467 sites that offer adult tech training programs and 303 of the 378 sites offering K-12 programs. In contrast, eight census-defined neighborhoods in the city, mostly in the Bronx and Staten Island, had zero K-12 programs in tech training.

Dvorkin wasn't necessarily surprised by this, he said.

"I do think, though, it’s alarming and it’s significant given all of the rhetoric and attention that the lack of access to STEM careers is getting," he added.

Tech:NYC, a network of tech leaders, partnered with the center to create the report because the industry wanted to map what was already out there to find the gaps, said Julie Samuels, executive director of the network.

"Tech has to support the K-12 and adult education ecosystem in the city," Samuels said. "In order for the tech sector to be part of that, they need to understand the landscape."

The network plans to use the information to help companies plug in to existing programs to create pipelines, she said. It also hopes to talk with policy makers about the report.

One of the largest obstacles identified in the report is a lack of bridge programs. Ninety percent of tech training programs for low-income adults focus on basic literacy and skills. But only 4 percent of nearly 160 adult tech training programs offered for free by nonprofits teach advanced coding or engineering skills, and only 6 percent provide training oriented toward careers for midlevel jobs.

The city needs to invest in bridge programs so that New Yorkers can get the basic skills they need and then transition into more advanced training programs, Dvorkin said.

Creating bridges from training to employment is also key. Employers often take a cautious approach of looking for hires who have already done the job they're hiring for, which can put entry-level positions out of reach for many, according to Ryan Craig, co-founder and managing director of University Ventures (and an occasional columnist for Inside Higher Ed).

When switching from a traditional model of getting a four-year degree to one based on certificates and skills, Craig said it's important to reduce hiring friction. For example, Talent Path, a hybrid of a boot camp and a recruiting company, pays students to serve as technology consultants at companies for short contracts. After students learn enough skills, they're hired on full-time. This lets employers "try before they buy," Craig said.

"Reducing hiring friction requires becoming the employer of record for a period of time, and probably also incurring the cost of sourcing, screening and training candidates," he said. "That’s a lot of working capital that’s often difficult for public and not-for-profit organizations to muster."

The report also recommends investing in more financial supports for low-income New Yorkers who are interested in tech training. While some programs may be free, adults also experience an opportunity cost from not working for however long the training lasts, Dvorkin said. This may be why there are so many basic skills programs, as it's easier to spend a few hours on that than commit to a months-long program, even if the results would be better.

"It's not just free tuition when we're talking about low-income students," Liz Eggleston, co-founder of the tech education site Course Report, said in an email. "As the report points out, transportation and childcare, the opportunity cost of being away from work, etc., are huge barriers."

Eggleston highlighted the Tech Talent Pipeline initiative, launched in 2014. The public-private partnership between the city and companies aims to provide resources to New Yorkers, as well as connections with employers. While many of the boot camps connected with the pipeline are full-time, students can get childcare and Metrocards to help, she said.

In its report, the center recommends investing $50 million in initiatives like the Tech Talent Pipeline to help the city reach its goals.

Gary A. Berg's new book, The Rise of Women in Higher Education: How, Why and What's Next (Rowman & Littlefield), covers the dramatic gains made by women in higher education and the areas where they have not achieved equity.

Berg, a former associate vice president at California State University Channel Islands, responded to questions about the book via email.

Q: Your book seems a reminder of the incredible progress women have made in higher education, and of the areas where progress has been more limited. Let's start with the progress that has taken place. What do you see as particularly significant?

A: The premise of my book is that the most important change in higher education in recent history is the increase of women leaders, faculty and students. I first became interested in the topic through observing the encouraging impact of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and women’s athletics on campus cultures.

The changes are broad and international. At the turn of the 21st century, women worldwide finally surpassed men in higher education participation. The forces behind this historical transformation internationally reflect declining birth rates and important social-political changes, echoing what occurred in America at the beginning of the 20th century, when women overcame almost complete restriction from postsecondary education. The growth in female faculty members, and in doctoral programs, is a crucial trend because of the implication for the future. The change in the college environment from a male domain too often hostile to women to one now evolving into a welcoming place encouraging personal and professional growth for young female students, is far from perfect but cause for acknowledgment.

Q: Now let's talk about the obstacles. Where are women held back?

A: The legacy of gendered majors and academic disciplines has a long history that limited women primarily to classroom teacher and nursing professions. Female students are still not as present in STEM majors, especially economically lucrative fields such as engineering. Women typically pursue majors leading to lower-paying occupations and end up with larger college debt on average than men after graduation.

Women faculty tend to be disproportionately employed in community colleges and less prestigious four-year institutions, and are paid approximately 80 percent of what men receive (a figure that is remarkably constant internationally). While there are more females in university leadership than in the past, the percentage is still lower, especially at research institutions.

Q: How important has Title IX been (both in athletics and outside it)?

A: Title IX had an immediate impact on women’s athletics participation and funding. The positive influence on individual students and overall campus life has been immense. While it is hard to quantify the effect of positive change on the overall university, combined with broader social changes, it is clear that college campuses are different today partly because of Title IX.

Although women athletes over all shine academically (unlike male athletes), and benefit from other clear advantages of participation in team sports, financial support for women’s athletics is still unequal, especially when looking at differences in compensation rates for coaches.

Q: Why are women less likely to get presidencies, particularly of research universities?

A: Many of the elite institutions in the past were resistant to admitting women students, or did so only through linked coordinate colleges, so it is no surprise that they would have less diverse leadership. In some cases, the traditions at universities surrounding doctoral programs, tenure and promotion work against encouraging rapid change in leadership gender, especially at research universities. In addition to creating an open pipeline to top positions, institutions need to more actively encourage and develop women leaders. Over time, one would expect to see college presidencies more appropriately reflect the ever more diverse student population.

Q: In five to 10 years, do you think we'll see more progress, or is progress slowing down?

A: The story of how women came to higher learning is one of self-education outside inaccessible colleges. Despite heavy opposition by men and rigid socio-political structures, women educated themselves by every means available, becoming especially skillful in writing and reading. This same learning activism will continue with or without support from others globally. I am hopeful that obstacles will become increasingly clear and unacceptable. The leadership and compensation inequality issues are already much discussed within and outside universities. The gendered major problem is more difficult and likely to take some time to change, partly because of the larger industrial and social forces out of the academy’s direct control. In terms of the increasing popularity of women’s sports, their historical links to academic departments with a focus on human development offer a model men’s sports should emulate going forward.

Over all, colleges are viewing inequity in a more nuanced manner with a better understanding of the complex nature of individual student identity beyond single demographic categories. Unlike the retrenchment that was seen in the early 20th century, when women entered universities in large numbers, we have passed a tipping point and will not turn back. Universities with empowered female students, faculty and leadership will more and more be centers for positive change in the world.

Carleton College

• Shaohua Guo, Chinese
• Jessica Keating, art history
• Alex Knodell, classics
• Anna Rafferty, computer science
• Prathi Seneviratne, economics
• Julia Strand, psychology

Clarkson University

• Mahesh Banavar, electrical and computer engineering
• Natasha Banerjee, computer science
• Sean Banerjee, computer science
• Arthur Michalek, mechanical and aeronautical engineering
• Amir Mousavian, engineering and management
• Jan Scrimgeour, physics
• Shantanu Sur, biology

Missouri State University West Plains

• Lindsay Hill, nursing
• Jason McCollom, history
• Benjamin Wheeler, biology

By: Chief Operating Officer Mark Brown, Federal Student Aid Just a couple months ago, I promised to keep you updated about all the ways Federal Student Aid (FSA) is making your experience with us b

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The Australian government will allow a ÔÇ£limitedÔÇØ number of Chinese high school students into Australia in an easing of the countryÔÇÖs coronavirus┬á(COVID-19) travel ban.┬á

Border force will be able to provide case by case exemptions for the travel restrictions, paying particular consideration of year 11 and 12 secondary students from mainland China. 

ÔÇ£The advice received is that COVID-19 has been contained in AustraliaÔÇØ

The exemptions wonÔÇÖt apply for students who come from Hubei province where there is continuing growth in both coronavirus cases and deaths.┬á

The decision comes after The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advised that current containment measures need continual review for proportionality.

In a statement, Federal Health minister, Greg Hunt, outlined AHPPCÔÇÖs reasons for easing the travel restrictions.┬á

ÔÇ£All governments have received advice from medical experts, the chief health and medical officers of all states, territories and the commonwealth,ÔÇØ he explained.

ÔÇ£The advice received is that COVID-19 has been contained in Australia, with no new cases in the general population in the last week.┬á

ÔÇ£In addition, the advice that comes from the medical officers goes on, ÔÇÿthere has been an apparent slowing in case numbers in other provenances of mainland China, suggestive of better containment.ÔÇÖ

ÔÇ£So in short, what we have seen is a reduction from over 700 cases a day outside of Hubei across mainland China, down to below 70,” said Hunt.

Hunt explained that as a result of this ÔÇ£very important international development backed up by what we have seen in AustraliaÔÇØ the AHPPC has recommended to the federal government and to all of the governments that the ability of border force to provide case by case exemptions be continued.┬á

He noted that there will be a ÔÇ£limited number of cases on a double green light basisÔÇØ.┬á

ÔÇ£The commonwealth has to approve and each state and territory has to approve, but this advice from the health officials has been unanimous.

ÔÇ£It has been accepted by the commonwealth and the states, and then it will be up to each individual state to adhere to the circumstances,ÔÇØ he said.┬á

Since the announcement, the Australian government has expressed its concern over community transmission in a number of countries. 

This includes South Korea and Japan, where there has been a rapid rise in case numbers, as well as Italy and Iran. 

In a press conference, chief medical officer for the Australian government,┬áBrendan Murphy, said that a temporary lift on the travel ban for the tertiary students will be considered later this week on the basis of what is happening in ChinaÔÇÖs provinces (excluding Hubei).┬á

Murphy said that the safety of tens of thousands of Chinese students being let into the country would depend on the risk of transmission from those provinces.

ÔÇ£At the moment, we’re talking about outbreaks of less than 2000 in provinces of many, many millions, and there hasn’t been, at this stage, more than a handful of cases that have been exported around the world from provinces other than Hubei.

ÔÇ£So we look at all of that data and we’ll make a recommendation to government,ÔÇØ he said.┬á

The post Aus: travel ban eased for some Chinese students appeared first on The PIE News.

The American Council of Education has criticised a US Department of Education investigation that suggested Harvard and Yale had failed to report millions of dollars in foreign funding.

The enquiry is part of an ongoing review of how US universities receive funding from foreign countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. 

ÔÇ£The more we dig, the more we find that too many are underreporting or not reportingÔÇØ

It centres around a law requiring colleges and universities that process US federal student aid to report gifts from and contracts with any foreign source that exceed US$250,000 in value and to disclose any foreign ownership or control, twice each year.

In a statement, the department said that Yale University may have failed to report at least $375 million in foreign gifts and contracts and that it “chose” not to report any gifts and contracts over the last four years.┬á

Harvard University may lack “appropriate institutional controls over foreign money”, according to the department, and has “failed to report fully all foreign gifts and contracts as required by law” in┬áSection 117 of the Higher Education Act.

“This is about transparency,” said US secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.

“If colleges and universities are accepting foreign money and gifts, their students, donors, and taxpayers deserve to know how much and from whom. Moreover, itÔÇÖs what the law requires.

“Unfortunately, the more we dig, the more we find that too many are underreporting or not reporting at all. We will continue to hold colleges and universities accountable and work with them to ensure their reporting is full, accurate, and transparent, as required by the law,” she added.

But┬áSarah K. Spreitzer, director department of government and public affairs at ACE, told┬áThe PIE News┬áthat the department is “investigating institutions who donÔÇÖt have a lot of clarification on what they are supposed to be reporting”.

Spreitzer explained that Harvard has been reporting gifts and contracts from foreign countries every year. However, the way they have reported is different from other institutions.

“They have reported one total number for gifts for a foreign country and then one aggregate number for contracts from all foreign countries,” she said.

“So when you look on the spreadsheet, they have a total amount of gifts from China or a total amount of contracts from China, but they donÔÇÖt break it out by specific entities from that country.”

Spreitzer told The PIE that there is a lack of clarity over whether or not Harvard has reported its foreign funding in an acceptable way.

“That actually goes to a question that ACE asked the department back in January of 2019 that they never responded to,”┬áshe said.

“In our letter that we sent to the department, we asked ‘when is it sufficient to only list the country and report in aggregate?’ and we never got a response back.”

In response to this point, a spokesperson for The DoE told┬áThe PIE the department “does not always directly respond to unsolicited correspondence from industry lobbyists”.

However, the spokesperson said the department has “solicited, evaluated, and responded to the views and concerns of the higher education community and other members of the public” regarding Section 117 through the notice and comment process.

In the case of Yale, Spreitzer said that the university did miss four years of reporting, but issued a statement explaining that upon discovery of the error, it tried to update the information with the DoE.

“[Yale] sent [the department] the missing four years of data back in 2019 and the department responded by launching an investigation,” she explained.┬á

“It doesnÔÇÖt do anything to help transparency because this sends a message to the institutions that if theyÔÇÖre out of compliance and they try to get into compliance, then the department will launch an investigation,” she added.┬á

“This sends a message to the institutions that… if try to get into compliance, then the department will launch an investigation”

TheDoE has published for public comment a “modern and robust”┬áinformation collection system under the Paperwork Reduction Act to promote compliance and transparency.

However, Spreitzer argued that this new system will not improve transparency, and instead will create more questions for universities trying to report under Section 117.

“This was developed within the department. They havenÔÇÖt talked to us, or other stakeholders, regarding it.

“I would just say it creates more questions that we canÔÇÖt answer,” she added.

The post ACE criticises investigations of Harvard & Yale appeared first on The PIE News.