Posts Categorized: Trends

Why Innovation Is Key to the Future of Psychology Education

We’ve heard the term “innovation” a lot lately. Boston’s Innovation District is booming. Life sciences and biotechnology companies throughout New England are creating innovative approaches to solve some of medicine’s most challenging problems. Companies across New England have “Chief Innovation Officers.” The universities and colleges around New England are innovating daily. The t...

New Way to Break Down Barriers to Higher Education: Build “Financial Capabilities”

Community colleges have traditionally responded to the financial needs of their students by removing or minimizing financial barriers to attending. Efforts to make community college tuition free fit with this philosophy. But where efforts to minimize or remove financial barriers to attending community college fall short is in empowering students to navigate the next financial crossroads they encou...

Truth, Transparency and Trust: Treasured Values in Higher Education

In the space of a few weeks in February, we lost the well-regarded journalists Bob Simon, David Carr and Ned Colt, while NBC’s Brian Williams was dethroned amid scandal. In all these cases, the words “truth” and “trust” and less commonly “transparency” have taken center stage. Quality media professionals succeed because they are truthful, and there is transparency in verifying that t...

On Affordability: Public Higher Education in New England

As the lowest-priced higher education institutions serving the greatest share of students in New England, public institutions are a crucial access point for the region’s students who may not have other opportunities to enroll in college. Maintaining the cost of attending a public institution in New England is imperative for students, families, communities, states and the region. Yet, the pri...

Divesting from Fossil Fuels Makes Sense Morally … and Financially

Should university endowments divest from fossil fuels? A public discussion of this question has seen some university presidents issuing statements that they would not divest—that investments should not be used for “political action.” Many universities hold large endowments that have significant positions in fossil fuel companies or funds that hold fossil fuel assets. Universities consume fos...

New Directions for Higher Education: Q&A with Deborah Floyd on Community Colleges Offering Bachelor’s Degrees

In this installment of NEJHE's New Directions for Higher Education series, Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviews Deborah Floyd, professor of educational leadership at Florida Atlantic University, editor in chief of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice and author of the book, The Community...

How Obama’s Tuition-Free Community College Plan Would Affect One State

President Obama started off the year with a proposal to make a community college education as “universal” as high school by making the associate degree or first two years of a bachelor’s degree tuition-free. The details of how this would be funded are still emerging. Should the proposal successfully move through Congress, Massachusetts, for one, stands to gain much from it. Here’s why: ...

Illegal Procedure? Title IX and Sexual Assault

Florida State University quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston was recently cleared of sexual assault charges following the university’s two-day investigative hearing. The high-profile investigation was launched under Title IX, which requires schools to investigate such allegations even in the absence of criminal charges. Winston’s attorney immediately took to his Twitter accoun...

Key NLRB Decision Opens a Wide Door for Faculty Organizing

In a stunning and far-reaching decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opened the door to union organizing among faculty at thousands of private-sector institutions, both secular and religious. The board’s majority decision in Pacific Lutheran University (12/16/14), issued in the face of powerful dissents, will inevitably spark controversy and ongoing litigation both about the leg...

Living with Abundant Information: What’s a College to Do?

With its October 2014 daylong conference on competency-based education and Higher Education Innovation Challenge (HEIC), the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) has firmly grasped the horns of disruptive change. It is creating a space in which New England states and institutions can wrestle with the critical issues driven by abundant information. Collectively, these issues encompass ever...