Higher Education News

World & Nation
A dozen of the world's most prominent medical journals have announced jointly that they will reject manuscripts submitted by authors who did not have control of either the data they used in their studies or the decision whether to publish the results.

The action is intended to ensure the independence of academic researchers whose work is supported by businesses.

The medical journals' statement, appearing as a joint editorial, said that corporations had too much say in what gets published, as well as too much influence over clinical trials themselves.

The 12 journals included the Annals of Internal Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Balancing the Equation: Where Are Women and Girls in Science, Engineering and Technology? from the National Council for Research on Women, finds that while more than one-quarter of the Ph.Ds in science over the last 30 years were awarded to women, fewer than 10 percent of today's full professors are women.

In addition, women made up 46 percent of the work force in the United States in 1996 but held only 12 percent of the nation's science and engineering jobs.

The report also notes that programs showing high levels of enrollment and retention among female science students have benefited their male counterparts as well. Copies of the report may be ordered by calling 212-785-7335.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching plan to work together for the next five years on a project they hope will strengthen liberal education in colleges.

The project stems from a concern that higher education has veered too far in the direction of technical skills and career preparation. Lee S. Shulman, the president of Carnegie, said it is time for an assessment of how and where students are learning the traditional disciplines of the liberal arts.

Faculty & Staff
Once again, law professors top the list of highest paid faculty at both public and independent universities, averaging $99,429 at public institutions and $108,450 at private universities-nearly $40,000 more than professors overall.

The survey, conducted by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, also found that the average faculty salary at institutions with collective bargaining was 6.7 percent higher than those institutions without unionized faculty. About one-third of public sector faculty are unionized, compared with about 5 percent in the independent institutions.

After law professors, the next highest paid disciplines were financial management, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and business administration.

CUPA also reports that adjunct professors, on average, are paid $592 per credit for undergraduate courses. Adjuncts receive benefits at only 15 percent of the institutions surveyed.

Professional News
Community college students across the nation will soon take part in a survey that measures the quality of the education provided at their institutions.

The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) is a project of the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

The new survey instrument, the Community College Student Report, is modeled on the questionnaire for the National Survey of Student Engagement, which evaluates levels of student engagement and institutional performance at four-year colleges.

The community college survey addresses such items as how students spend their time, what they feel they have gained from their classes, how they assess the quality of their interactions with faculty, counselors, and peers, what kinds of work they are challenged to do, and how the college supports their learning.

Additional information on the project is available at www.ccsse.org.

Parents Rate the Improvement of a College Education for Their Kids
Source: 2000 The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education