Money spent on the liberal arts does more than feed and clothe the creative class. It creates a heritage of intellectual property that can yield economic and social benefit for lifetimes… But partisans of the liberal arts can do more just whine and wheedle. For one thing, we can call our state representatives — or Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), the Assembly’s appropriations chair — and urge support for AB 580, which would lift our state arts funding from 49th in the country to 12th. It’s even a local call. And the next time a politician goes bloviating on about STEM funding (as some liberal arts major of a speechwriter surely dubbed it), spare a kind thought for BRANCH: books, readers, artists, newspapers, critics and, yes, the humanities.

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by David Kipen, The Los Angeles Times.

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

The University of California has admitted a record number of applicants for the fall freshman class, and that includes thousands more from outside California.
U-C admitted nearly 83,000 students for the fall semester. That’s up about three percent from 2012. While nearly three quarters of those admitted live in California, there’s an increase in students from outside the state. U-C campuses admitted nearly 23,000 students from other states and other countries – up from nearly 19,000 last year.

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by Marianne Russ, Capital Public Radio.

Posted: April 18th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A bill is dead to create a fourth college system in California to award credit and degrees to students but offer no courses, according to the head of the state Assembly’s higher education committee. The bill would have created the “New University of California,” which would have issued credit and degrees to anyone capable of passing certain exams. The bill received criticism and news media attention even though it had an uphill battle to become law: its sponsor is Assemblyman Scott Wilk, a rookie Republican lawmaker in a Democratic-majority legislature.

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by staff, Inside Higher Ed.

Posted: April 18th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The structure of the 80-student class, with its emphasis on in-class problem solving, is simply more effective, said SJSU President Mo Qayoumi, who noted another benefit: Only a handful of the students will have to retake the class, reducing bottlenecks in the system. But there’s another factor, too: The online videos and quizzes can take 10 to 12 hours a week to watch and complete, far more than expected in the traditional format. In addition, Ghadiri said he and his teaching assistants spend a combined 80 hours a week on the class, preparing materials, checking students’ progress and sending them emails when they fall behind. “It does require a lot more time,” said Marisa Williams, a civil engineering major, taking a break from a group quiz on the power generated from electrical circuits and each of their components.

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by Katy Murphy, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: April 11th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Here’s what they’re saying in academic circles across the country: California wrecked its public schools decades ago, and now it’s starting in on its colleges. That may be an exaggeration, but few would deny that this is a pivotal time for the state’s much-admired public colleges and universities, which have been underfunded for years. In their efforts to expand access without spending more money, education officials and state lawmakers will no doubt offer all sorts of bad proposals for how to do more with less, and those who care about the system will have to be vigilant in protecting it. Already, there’s legislation to create a fourth college system — in addition to the community colleges, the California State University and the University of California — with no classes, just tests. This proposal has more potential to harm than to help restore the state’s educational luster.

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by The Editorial Board, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: April 10th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The California Community Colleges released a “Student Success Scorecard” on Tuesday to allow students and their families to compare colleges in the system based on student data. The scorecard—a recommendation of the system’s Student Success Task Force—provides completion and persistence rates, as well as data on how effectively colleges move students through remedial and career-technical courses on each of the system’s 112 campuses. Each measure is broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Students and families can also track transfer rates and “momentum points,” such as the percentage of students who complete 30 units—a milestone that is considered to be the halfway mark to transferring to a four-year institution.

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by Allie Bidwell, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: April 9th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

An unusual new study of the effects of faculty unionization on public universities—rather than on just faculty members themselves—reaches the controversial conclusion that such institutions generally become more efficient and effective when their professors form collective-bargaining units. “Unionization contributes to lower budgets, higher graduation rates, and a greater number of degrees and completions,” says a draft report on the study’s findings…

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by Peter Schmidt, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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

University of California-San Francisco employees are protesting the university’s decision to cut the equivalent of 300 hospital jobs. About a hundred people marched today in front of the hospital at UCSF’s Parnassus campus. The protest was led by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME. Radiologists, operating room assistants, pharmacy technicians and other hospital staff are members of the union. Union local president Kathryn Lybarger says the cuts affect patient care.

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by Molly Samuel, KQED.

Posted: April 4th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Academic senate leaders from California’s three higher education systems uniformly oppose an effort to require public colleges to award credit for work done by students in online programs unaffiliated with their colleges, including course offerings from unaccredited, for-profit providers… Rhys Williams, a Steinberg spokesman, said from the senator’s perspective the discussions have been productive, but he said a play-by-play account of meetings “gets in the way of good policy making.” … Williams also disputed the notion that faculty would not have the opportunity to offer rigorous assessments of outside courses before the courses are placed into the pool. “I think the bill as it is addresses their concerns,” he said. Steinberg’s plan has yet to be formally introduced as legislation, but a March 8 draft of the bill does not provide all of the protections the senator said it did during a press conference announcing his effort.

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by Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Education.

Posted: March 28th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

CSU and community college faculty have expressed concerns about the bill, but it has sent UC’s faculty into revolt; Steinberg should have consulted with them before announcing the bill. The Academic Senate’s top officers last week wrote to their members: “There is no possibility that UC faculty will shirk its responsibility to our students by ceding authority over courses to any outside agency.” Faculty members aren’t opposed to online classes; many already teach them. They’re worried about relinquishing control over standards and diminishing UC’s world-class reputation — a real possibility. In fact Steinberg’s bill may not help the UC schools, which have different students, aims and challenges than the other branches. UC students don’t face serious bottlenecks trying to get required courses. CSU and the community colleges serve more than 10 times as many students. If the goal is to clear bottlenecks and allow students to graduate on time, which cuts costs, Steinberg’s faculty committee should primarily focus on courses at CSU and the community colleges, where the need is greatest. And the Legislature should also heed the worries of faculty at all levels to ensure quality instruction and student learning are protected at every step.

Read full article [here].
by The Editorial Board, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: March 22nd, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.