Opinion

A few years ago, some colleges in my neck of the woods flirted with the idea of partnering with more expensive for-profits to provide “express lanes” for students to get around long waiting lists for high demand programs, especially in nursing. The idea was that the colleges didn’t have the resources to build the needed capacity, so they would partner with institutions that did. Now, and on the other ocean, California is considering requiring public colleges and universities to accept MOOCs for credit when taken by students on waiting lists for regular classes.

How often do offspring repeat their parent’s profession?

Everyone in higher ed seems to believe in the power of innovation, while very few of us know how to change how we organize ourselves to move from ideas to execution.

During the summer, I committed to running a short program on Strategy and Competition in Higher Education – essentially a two-day non-credit version of the full length Strategy and Competition in Higher Education course - and asked people what they thought were the most important topics for discussion during such a program. And there was definitely some consensus.

At teaching-oriented colleges, a search committee will be focused on how candidates match institutional values, not just their C.V.s, writes Melanie Springer Mock.

Right now I am right smack in the middle of writing my dissertation proposal. Talk to any graduate student at this phase of the process and they will groan in recognition of the long slog it seems to be. At this point in my writing I have successfully organized my closets and my bathrooms have never been so clean. In spite of all this, I'm still managing to eke out a few pages a day and, slowly but surely, I am getting there.