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Higher Education News

World & Nation
The nation’s flagship universities are growing “whiter and richer,” even as high-school graduating classes grow more diverse, according to the Education Trust. Engines of Inequality: Diminishing Equity in the Nation’s Premier Public Universities, the advocacy group’s report, gives eight state universities “Fs” and 24 state university “Ds” on access for low-income and minority students and on the gaps in graduation rates for those students and the student body as a whole. There were no “As”. You can find Engines of Inequality at www.edtrust.org.

A bi-partisan panel of state legislators has called for state legislatures to create an agenda that links higher education to state economic goals and hold colleges and universities accountable for meeting the goals. Among the goals: making higher education more affordable, accessible, and accountable. You can buy a copy of Transforming Higher Education: National Imperative—State Responsibility from the National Council of State Legislatures at www.ncsl.org/bookstore/.

State spending on higher education is continuing to rise this year in most of the country, according to the Illinois State University Center for the Study of Education Policy annual survey.

State general-fund appropriations for higher education in 2006–07 are up by 7 percent, to $72.18 billion, the survey found. Detailed statistics, including state and institutional breakdowns, can be found on the Center’s Web site www.coe.ilstu.edu/eafdept/centerforedpolicy.

Three national membership organizations, representing labor, consumers, and business, have announced that they will work together to urge action from political leaders, in a partnership called Divided We Fail. AARP, Business Roundtable, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) say they will use the influence of their over 50 million combined memberships to send the message that attaining health and long-term financial security is vital for all Americans.

Faculty & Staff
A U.S. Court of Appeals panel has denied George Washington University’s appeal of a National Labor Relations Board decision that the university violated the law when it refused to recognize the results of a 2004 election in which the adjunct faculty voted to unionize. The appeals court upheld the NLRB's ruling that the university “engaged in an unfair labor practice” and ordered it to bargain with the union.

The number of earned doctorates awarded by American universities rose 2.9 percent in 2005, according to Doctorate Recipients From United States Universities: Summary Report 2005, reaching an all-time high. However, increases in degrees awarded to international students account for the growth, with doctorates going to students holding temporary visas climbing more than 32 percent. The percentage of doctorates from American universities going to U.S. citizens has fallen to just under 61 percent. In 1975, that number was 82 percent.

Professional News
The 2006 Community College Survey of Student Engagement reports that being a full-time student is a significant indicator of student success.

The University of Texas Community College Leadership Program survey also finds that the majority of community college students feel academic advising is the most important support service their college provides, but that about 30 percent of part-time and 16 percent of full-time students receive no advising services.

Students say faculty members are their most important source of advising, but the 2006 Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement finds that about 10 percent of full-time and 40 percent of part-time faculty spend no time advising students during a typical week.

“Perhaps the most surprising finding,” says Dr. Kay McClenney, CCSSE director, “is that 60 percent of part-time faculty members are spending some time advising students even though they rarely are paid for that work.”