Posts Categorized: News

Six New Technologies on the Horizon to Change Higher Education

The annual Horizons report by Educause and The New Media Consortium has a pretty good track record identifying technologies that will have a significant impact on education. For example, the 2006 report cited social computing such as Wikipedia, Skype and internet tagging to be technologies that would soon have an immediate impact.So what does the 2011 Horizon Report see as the six technologies ...

Despite Bad Press and Financial Hits, For-Profit Colleges Could Be Key Source of Transfers

In a recent article in Inside Higher Education, transfer expert Marc Cutright of the University of North Texas writes about the growing importance that four-year colleges and universities should place on students transferring from community college. Public colleges, led by community colleges, grant more than a half million associate degrees annually and the number grew by 27% over a decade. But wh...

Maine Policy Group to Hold Tax and Budget Conference in Augusta

The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MCEP) will hold its 10th State Tax & Budget Conference on Monday, Feb. 14 at the Augusta Civic CenterFeatured speakers will include Sawin Millett, commissioner of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services. Millett will make a presentation on the proposed biennial budget, which is scheduled for release in early February.Other scheduled...

College in Vt.’s Northeast Kingdom to Give Sterling Lesson in Food, Farms

Sterling College will serve up a new academic program in farm-to-table food studies in summer 2011.“Vermont’s Table: Farming, Cooking, and the Rural Experience” will combine hands-on culinary training using local vegetables and meats with in-depth examination of Vermont farms, cheesemakers and agricultural businesses. The program will include courses in Whole Farm Thinking and Fa...

UMass Names Towson U’s Caret as Prez; Former NEBHE Chair Menard Hired as VP at Bristol CC

The University of Massachusetts selected Robert Caret, president of Towson University, to succeed Jack M. Wilson as head of the five-campus university.A chemist with degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Suffolk University, Caret will need to concoct an effective potion for UMass, which the Boston Globe described as "struggling to climb into the elite ranks of public universities whil...

Return to Data Connection: Stats on NE Education, Economy, Life

For nearly 20 years, the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (and its predecessor Connection) published a quarterly collection of facts and figures called "Data Connection." It was a sort of ripoff of the underrated Harper's Index. The key was to cleverly juxtapose pieces of interesting data, with no expressed overarching context. The glue, in our case, was that the it...

Small Revenue Gains in NE States Not Enough to Stanch Ed Bleeding

The good news is that the New England states are showing slight gains in revenue collections. The bad news is that it will not be enough to stave off a new round of budget cuts for the coming fiscal years. States are preparing budgets for FY12 and FY13 while addressing shortfalls in FY11 budgets. Most states have spent stimulus funds to avoid massive layoffs in K-12 districts and higher education....

Departing UMass Prez to Teach at Lowell, Change at Dollars for Scholars, Noted Regionalists Get Key State Gov Posts

Comings and Goings ... Jack Wilson said ... Departing University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson told the Sun newspaper of Lowell, Mass., that he will join the faculty at the UMass Lowell campus when he steps down from the system presidency this summer. Wilson will become a tenured professor of emerging technologies in the College of Management. He was named system president in 2003. ...

Student Debit Card Programs: Friend or Foe?

The rising cost of tuition, the loan burden, the diminished grant availability—these usually come to mind when the subject is paying for college. Surprisingly, though, many students are actually entitled to thousands of dollars in refunds, usually paid when students borrow more then they need to, or when late federal aid arrives supplementing already paid tuition fees.The distribution of the...

Swimming in Debt, Hebrew College Relocates

Hebrew College of Newton, Mass., announced it will be move its operation to Andover Newton Theological School in 2011 or 2012, contingent on the sale of its current building.The college is facing debt of more than $32 million.Hebrew College offers undergraduate degrees and several master’s degrees and certificates in Jewish Studies and Jewish Education.Hebrew recently teamed up with Northeas...