Lumina Foundation is working to increase the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity.
A recent survey found the average college student loses credits transferring between institutions and has to repeat courses they’ve already completed. Some students drop out of higher education altogether because transfer is too challenging.
An artificial intelligence tool called CourseWise aims to mitigate some of these challenges by providing a centralized database for credit-transfer processes and automating course matching. In this interview, Joshua Pardos, an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses how CourseWise works, the human elements of credit transfer, and the need for reliable data in transfer.
Recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Jayanta Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, have taken aim at the scientific publishing industry, changing policies and using their platforms to lodge their criticisms. They’ve pledged to address concerns about bias, misinformation, and access.
While numerous experts say some of the government’s grievances about scientific publishing are real, they’re skeptical that the solutions the HHS and NIH have proposed so far will yield meaningful reforms. And some warn that the Trump administration—which continues to promote misinformation about vaccines, among other things—is exploiting that reality to further its own ideological agenda.
Every spring, University of Pittsburgh faculty members gather to discuss a pressing topic affecting higher education. In 2021, the subject was antiracism and equity. In 2023, it was generative artificial intelligence. This year's topic? Academic freedom.
Professors and others in higher education traditionally strive to investigate and discuss matters in their field without interference. However, over the past year, campus leaders have faced significant scrutiny from the Trump administration’s actions. Research funding has been slashed. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have shut down. And foreign scholars have been threatened with deportation because of their politics.
For many international students in California, college life these days is a balancing act between staying on top of homework and exam demands while avoiding Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and situations that could lead to detention and deportation.
Some question whether they want to continue studying in the United States. Others practice self-censorship on social media to comply with the Trump administration’s restrictive new policies. And some are simply trying their best to stay away from any political discourse, including in the classroom.
As college and university leaders returned to campus this fall, there were new signs that a long-building financial crisis may finally be reaching a breaking point. The warning lights have been flashing for years. Fewer high school graduates are enrolling in college, and the overall population of college-age students is shrinking.
Add deep federal funding cuts and changes to the student visa policy and the sector faces what Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, calls “a perfect storm.”
The Western Slope’s largest university is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year during a time when skepticism of higher education is high and funding for higher education is on track to be low. But its president says the university has faced adversity before.
Colorado Mesa University's John Marshall weighs in on the climate around higher education, budget cuts from the state, and how Grand Junction went from “passing the hat to try and keep payroll met” to being home to a four-year institution entering its second century.
