The ruling allows City College to continue trying to repair the many administrative and financial deficiencies that put its accreditation in jeopardy in the first place. But it means that accreditation could not be revoked unless the commission won at trial. But Karnow’s ruling indicates he thinks Herrera would win at trial. The city’s suit says the commission allowed political bias and conflicts of interest to influence not only its decision to revoke the college’s accreditation next summer, but its entire evaluation of the college that began in March 2012. The suit alleges that the commission unfairly stacked its evaluation team with supporters of a statewide initiative called the Student Success Task Force that sought to limit college access for thousands of students whose academic goals did not include a degree or transfer to college. The commission’s president, Barbara Beno, also wrote letters to the state in support of the initiative, which became law. At the same time, City College students and faculty members were among the most outspoken critics of the idea.

Read full article [here].
by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: January 3rd, 2014, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Earlier this year, San Jose State University partnered with Udacity to offer several types of for-credit MOOC classes at low cost. The partnership was announced in January with lots of enthusiastic publicity, including a plug from California Gov. Jerry Brown, who said MOOC experiments are central to democratizing education… But by all accounts, the San Jose experiment was a bust. Completion rates and grades were worse than for those who took traditional campus-style classes. And the students who did best weren’t the underserved students San Jose most wanted to reach. It wasn’t really proving to be cheaper, either…

Read full article [here].
by Eric Westervelt, NPR.

Posted: December 31st, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

One of the world’s largest academic publishers has launched a wide-ranging takedown spree, demanding that several different universities take down their own scholars’ research. Elsevier is a commercial firm that publishes some of the leading journals in many academic fields. In recent weeks, it has sent takedown notices to the academic social media network Academia.edu, as well as to the University of Calgary, the University of California-Irvine, and Harvard University… the takedown campaign goes against a long-standing industry practice in which journal publishers look the other way when academics post their own work. Elsevier’s new hard-line posture is likely to intensify a debate over the future of academic publishing.

Read full article [here].
by Andrea Peterson, The Washington Post.

Posted: December 19th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A top Senate Democrat on Thursday called for the Obama administration and collegiate accreditors to investigate whether a major for-profit college company, Corinthian Colleges Inc., systematically deceived students, government officials and taxpayers by inflating its job placement rates… At for-profit institutions such as Corinthian’s schools, job placement numbers are key both for recruiting new students and to satisfying non-profit accreditation agencies that certify the schools’ standards. By meeting minimum placement goals for accreditors, Corinthian has been able to tap into federal student aid dollars totaling nearly $10 billion over the last decade — more than 80 percent of the company’s total revenue.

Read full article [here].
by Chris Kirkham, The Huffington Post.

Posted: December 19th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Everest College’s $2,000-per-head “subsidy” program in Decatur, Ga., stands among an array of tactics used for years by the institution’s parent company, Corinthian Colleges Inc., to systematically pad its job placement rates, according to a review of contract documents and lawsuits and interviews with former employees. More than a marketing tool to lure new students, solid job placement rates allow the company to satisfy the accrediting bodies that oversee its nearly 100 U.S. campuses, while enabling Corinthian to tap federal student aid coffers — a source of funding that has reached nearly $10 billion over the last decade, comprising more than 80 percent of the company’s total revenue

Read full article [here].
by Chris Kirkham, The Huffington Post.

Posted: December 16th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California, Berkeley, has chosen to become “a finishing school for the superrich of Asia” in order to survive financially, argues one of its employees, Economics Prof. Brad DeLong. To make that strategy pay off, DeLong argues in a recent post on UC Berkeley’s blog, the school will have to change the way it funds and organizes its classes.

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by Steven E.F. Brown, The San Francisco Business Times.

Posted: December 16th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University Professional & Technical Employees union approved the proposed contract Friday night, calling the deal historic. Workers at UC’s 10 campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will vote on it this week. Union workers include clinical lab scientists, social workers, pharmacists, staff research associates, computer resource specialists, editors and writers… Union president Jelger Kalmijn said the pension agreement was especially a “breakthrough” because it prevents a two-tiered pension system that would have pushed back retirement with similar benefits for workers by five years. UC spokeswoman Shelly Meron called the agreement fair and the result of two years of hard work.

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by AP, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: December 15th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Meeting on Friday for the first time, the leaders of California’s three public higher education systems vowed to work closely together to bring them into the future — and to rally the public around their value to society. Speaking to an audience of state college lobbyists and advocates from around the country, new UC President Janet Napolitano — a former governor of Arizona and federal homeland security secretary — stressed that the message needs to be about investment, not need… White said “When I read about the master plan and I hear a lot of smart people saying it’s broken or needs to be thrown out, I say, ‘Nonsense,'” … “For those who say, ‘Well, Tim, you’ll save a lot of money if … you do more things online,’ that’s not correct,” he said.

Read full article [here].
by Katy Murphy, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: December 13th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Black students have been admitted to the University of California at starkly lower rates since racial consideration was banned in public college admissions in the state, especially at the most prestigious campuses, a report showed on Thursday. The report, by the education policy group Campaign for College Opportunity, also showed that African-American students were less likely than students from other ethnic groups to graduate from the state’s public colleges and universities, and took longer to complete their degrees. The study comes amid an ongoing debate in the United States over affirmative action, the practice of giving an advantage in hiring or college admissions to some minority applicants to boost opportunities for under-represented populations.

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by Sharon Bernstein, Reuters.

Posted: December 5th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

So far this year, 14,870 students have signed up for credit classes in the spring compared with 19,289 by this time last year, a 23 percent decline. And registration is down 34 percent compared with two years ago, a difference of 7,524 students, according to a daily count of spring registrations that began more than two weeks ago. “Every lost student points to the strong possibility of an education lost,” said Alisa Messer, president of the City College faculty union. “The vast majority of those students are not going to other colleges. We would be seeing thousands of new students at neighboring community colleges, and we’re not.” Despite its plunging enrollment, City College remains one of the largest schools in the country.

Read full article [here].
by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: December 5th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.