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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

4 best practices around diversity and inclusion in higher education

The next generation of employees will be more diverse than ever before, and that’s a great thing for business. According to a McKinsey & Co. study, companies with greater ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have better financial returns than their peers, and companies with more gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to outperform their competitors.

Similarly, institutions of higher learning should consider the multicultural workforce of the future when planning for recruitment and programming; doing so will encourage a more creative learning environment, pushing the student body to experience different viewpoints and prepare for life after graduation—and increasing the values of their degrees.

According to a report by the U.S. Department of Education, student-body diversity in higher education is important not only for improving economic and educational opportunities for students of color, but also for the social, academic, and societal benefits it presents for all students and communities. Students report less discrimination and bias at institutions where they perceive a higher commitment to diversity. The report also found that higher education improves social mobility for minorities; on average, African Americans and Hispanics who completed four-year college degrees earn double compared to those who only earned a high school diploma.…Read More

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Closing the ‘drop-out gap’ for students near credit completion

New research reveals that nearly 1 in 5 students who do not graduate from college have completed 75 percent or more of their required credits, highlighting a troubling gap in college completion.

The analysis of more than 300,000 students at 53 institutions, released by Civitas Learning, also shows that 1 in 10 students will reach the 90 percent credit completion threshold before leaving without a degree.

At four-year institutions, about 13 percent of nonpersisting students had completed 75 percent or more of credit threshold, and about 6 percent had reached the 90 percent credit threshold.…Read More

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Efforts grow to make higher-ed recruitment more equitable for low-income students

As institutions face criticism over disparities in different racial groups’ access to higher education, a record number of universities have pledged to focus on enrolling low-income students.

The American Talent Initiative (ATI), first launched in December 2016, reached a milestone in April when 100 universities total had signed on to target enrollment for low- and moderate-income students. The goal is to enroll 50,000 students with strong graduation rates by 2025.

ATI member institutions are required to graduate at least 70 percent of their students in six years. Membership in ATI now includes the entire Ivy League, 17 state flagship universities, and private colleges.…Read More

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7 trends in education operations health

University IT teams say they struggle to find a balance between accommodating more devices on campus while dealing with limited IT resources, according to a new survey on education operations.

The Education Operations Health Index, an annual report from Dude Solutions based on operations statistics and a 25-question survey, gauges sentiments from K-12, higher education, and industry to determine general dispositions toward education facilities.

The survey can help institutions self-assess and make better decisions.…Read More

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Unbundling the 4-year degree: How to design education for the future

Employers are in desperate need of skilled workers to address current employee shortages and prepare for projected disruption in the workplace. For example, artificial intelligence will create 2.3 million jobs while eliminating 1.8 million by 2020, according to a 2017 Gartner report.

To fill jobs now while preparing for the future, countless organizations are rethinking how students learn and earn skills in postsecondary education. Such a change requires new mindsets for institutions and businesses.

The rise of micro-credentials…Read More

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How to improve your career counseling

Colleges and universities are starting a new trend as they combine academic advising with career counseling to decrease student anxieties about finding desirable employment after graduation.

A new analysis from EAB shows that for every 100 students who begin working toward a bachelor’s degree, just 35 will graduate and work in a position requiring a college degree by the age of 27.

Universities want a positive reputation for delivering a good return on education, says Ed Venit, EAB’s managing director. Part of that return on education includes students achieving desirable outcomes—jobs they wouldn’t get if they didn’t have a four-year degree. Institutions are rethinking the ways they prepare students for careers.…Read More

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4 key findings about university innovation

Nearly all administrators (91 percent) in a recent survey say innovation is a top strategic or academic priority, but just 40 percent say their institution has a dedicated university innovation budget, according to a new report that explores the drivers and barriers to higher-ed innovation.

The State of Innovation in Higher Education: A Survey of Academic Administrators, from The Learning House and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), surveyed more than 100 U.S. academic administrators and seeks to highlight how higher-ed institutions define and employ such innovation.

University leaders appear to share the fundamental view that innovation is “the art of solving problems to ensure students succeed in higher education,” but there is a lack of consensus on the definition of university innovation.…Read More

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4 best practices around diversity and inclusion in higher ed

The next generation of employees will be more diverse than ever before, and that’s a great thing for business. According to a McKinsey & Co. study, companies with greater ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have better financial returns than their peers, and companies with more gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to outperform their competitors.

Similarly, institutions of higher learning should consider the multicultural workforce of the future when planning for recruitment and programming; doing so will encourage a more creative learning environment, pushing the student body to experience different viewpoints and prepare for life after graduation—and increasing the values of their degrees.

According to a report by the U.S. Department of Education, student-body diversity in higher education is important not only for improving economic and educational opportunities for students of color, but also for the social, academic, and societal benefits it presents for all students and communities. Students report less discrimination and bias at institutions where they perceive a higher commitment to diversity. The report also found that higher education improves social mobility for minorities; on average, African Americans and Hispanics who completed four-year college degrees earn double compared to those who only earned a high school diploma.…Read More

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Higher-ed spending gaps do a disservice to minority students

Inequities that negatively impact students of color in the K-12 education system continue into postsecondary education and are detrimental to student success, according to a new analysis.

When students of color graduate from underfunded and understaffed high schools, gaps in support and spending follow they into postecondary education.

In fact, according to a Center for American Progress (CAP) analysis of IPEDS spending an enrollment data, public college spend roughly $5 billion less educating students of color in one year than they do educating white students.…Read More

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How to use technology to improve the transfer process

The University of Arkansas had a problem: Admissions staff needed to make quicker decisions about transfer students and needed to reach students in new markets, but a backlog of transfer credits slowed progress.

After a state lottery bill funded academic scholarships in 2009, the university saw enrollment jump. Then, it became easier for students to transfer their associate degree coursework to four-year schools, leading to transfer increases between 5 and 10 percent each year.

Despite these spikes in enrollments and transfer students, the university’s registrar and admissions staff remained the same size, which meant staff had to process more documents and transcripts via legacy technology and manual processes.…Read More

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